Vodafone uses voiceless African plans to lure tech-savvy youth

Johannesburg

INSIDE a packed Vodafone Group Plc store in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, a group of the city's tech-savvy students wait in line for wireless modems they hope will transform their ability to surf the Internet. They don't even care that they won't be able to get a voice plan to talk over the British mobile operator's network since Vodafone doesn't have a licence for that.

"The coming of Vodafone is long overdue," Anthony Kambeu, 25, a s…