Comments on: It’s All About Connectivity

By: Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:23:10 +0000

@Jim – I absolutely agree with your example via a vis rural farmers accessing a market easily and more efficiently. However what I saw of urban India indiacted to me that, at least for a number of consumers, mobile phone are alongside home theatre and Nike shoes as “must have” consumer items.

So yes – mobile access is a real enabler absolutely, however pushing (for example) the latest iPhone or Nokia multimedia phone onto customers who yearn for Western influence, is predatory in my opinion

By: En Avant » Blog Archive » The more phones, the better

En Avant » Blog Archive » The more phones, the better — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:26:17 +0000

[...] Mobile phones are not luxury goods in countries with few landlines – they are essential for transforming the economy. The more people with them, the better the economy can perform; the network effect made real. Mobile broadband will have an even bigger impact in these countries – way beyond what we’ll see in the developed world. The more phones, the better. Trackback uri [...]

By: Jim Donovan

Jim Donovan — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:02:32 +0000

Ben, I used to lead a company that made and sold mobile phone infrastructure – base station antennas in our case – and the developing nations were a key target for us. Extending mobile phone usage through developing nations has been proven in many studies to be one of the best investments they can make, along with education. Simple example – a smallholding farmer typically sells his produce to a multi-tiered, inefficient wholesale system, from whom the small retailers in the area buy all their produce. Why – the wholesalers control the information and relationships. Mobile phones enable the grower and the retailer to deal direct on a daily basis, at better prices for both. The economy is thereby more efficient. There are myriad other examples.

Mobile phones are not luxury goods in countries with few landlines – they are essential for transforming the economy, and the more people with them, the better; the network effect in real life. Mobile broadband will have an even bigger impact in these countries – way beyond what we’ll see in the developed world. The more phones, the better.