Coping with the Revolution: Many countries rely on high phone rates for cash. Will boosting calls make up for it?

Pape G. Toure, president of Senegal's national telephone company, Sonatel, has a problem. In 2002, the US plans a sharp cut in the rate it pays Sonatel to complete the calls Americans make to this West African country from $1.18 a minute to 23 cents. Overall, reductions in international phone fees by other countries will put $30 million in jeopardy - 80% of the hard currency the country receives for services. So Toure is scrambling to find alternative sources of revenue.