Access to mobile communications is critical in breaking the cycle of poverty in developing countries, says Ericsson CEO, Hans Vestberg.
Speaking at the Earth Institute's State of the Planet conference in New York, Vestberg highlighted that telecoms play a powerful role because they can impact all of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
With 2010 marking the tenth anniversary of the MDGs, and five years to go before deadline, the ICT sector is poised as a key player in fighting poverty and climate change, as well as accelerating economic recovery, Vestburg said in a statement.
“The right tools can help people to escape from poverty and achieve the MDGs,” he noted. “There are 4.6 billion mobile subscriptions today, and in five years we are set to reach seven billion.”
As over 60% of mobile phone users live in developing countries, according to the World Bank's infoDev programme, new applications for social upliftment in areas such as healthcare and education are growing rapidly.
“Mobile applications can address a multitude of needs, such as health, education, security, social, and entertainment, in an economically sustainable and user efficient manner,” says Konstantinos Tzingakis, director of innovations at Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa.
“With more people having mobile phones than TVs, Internet or computers (and even bank accounts), especially in some countries, we will see an even greater uptake of mobile-based services in future,” adds Tzingakis.
Seeds of potential
According to Nick Jones, Gartner VP and distinguished analyst, mobile-based social development can involve everything from using SMSes to provide simple healthcare information to mobile learning services.
“It's also about supporting groups of citizens' particular needs,” he notes. “For example, mobile apps for farmers in India tell them where to plant crops, when to water them, and which markets have the best prices, so they don't have to travel all day unnecessarily.
“It's changed people's lives, bringing real financial benefits and cutting out the middleman, which gives them more freedom,” adds Jones.
Various industry initiatives supporting mobile apps for social upliftment have emerged recently. The Grameen Foundation, MTN Uganda, and Google collaborated to create the Application Laboratory (AppLab) earlier this year, to develop, test and scale mobile-based services that benefit the poor.
Another example is Nokia's Life Tools range of agricultural and educational services. These bring important information and capabilities to mobile phones for people in remote or rural areas, where communities often lack access to external resources like the Internet.
Nokia also introduced a Growth Economy Venture Challenge in January, which calls on mobile developers to create applications for users living on a few dollars a day. The company will invest $1 million of start-up capital in the winning product or service that will raise the standard of living of people in emerging market countries.
According to Professor Fisseha Mekuria, principal research scientist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, both the mobile industry and the World Bank are supporting applications development for improving social and economic conditions in emerging countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
“What I would like to see is an initiative by the mobile industry in partnership with universities to start a mobile academy at several higher educational institutes, to accelerate the growth of mobile-based societal services.”
He adds that other opportunities include mobile application labs at South African universities, human capital development courses, and educating architects of the mobile economy.
“Further research on human and mobile computer interaction will give applications development the necessary usability, and testing mechanisms will make mobile services reliable and successful,” he states.
Doctors without borders
According to Tzingakis, mobile healthcare services have evolved to address both rural and urban needs. “Mobile applications have allowed for basic health data to be captured in real-time, allowing healthcare workers and individuals to complete surveys about individual or community health, and relay it to doctors across the country for instant analysis.”
He adds these same applications allow for images - of wounds or for identification purposes - to be transmitted. “Microscopic images of blood samples can even be sent via mobile phones for automated analysis and blood counts several hundreds or thousands of kilometres away.”
More advanced solutions allow for full video real-time consultations with doctors and healthcare professionals over any distance, notes Tzingakis. “This could facilitate a simple visit to the GP with automated call-back when he becomes available, or in-the-field diagnosis with full health vitals transmitted back to the doctors over the air. In this way they can treat and prescribe medicines without physically being with the patient,” he explains.
Growth inhibitors
While mobile uptake has been explosive, some challenges still exist in making relevant, practical services and applications available to a wider population.
Mekuria says the high price of capable mobile devices and services is still an issue in rural communities. Other barriers include the need for local language support, as well as identity management, security and reliability of devices and services, adds Mekuria.
To tackle the issue of tailoring applications to various language groups, he suggests starting with a small subset of languages, learning from the feedback, and then improving the system to include other languages. “One can develop a database of languages, content and applications with involvement from the local communities,” he states.
Jones however, is confident that social development through innovative mobile services is set to have significant future impacts. “There are massive opportunities in this sector, with a lot of creativity being applied.”
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