The Marlin Mobile Blog

Is Mobile Infrastructure Ahead of Device Technology Within Developing Economies?

Posted on 29 October 2009

A recent summary article by Reuters, “Will Solar Speed up Emerging Cell Phone Revolution?“, does a nice job of capturing the current realities and future potential of solar powered cell phones in developing economies.  The correspondents quote Abdul Bayes, an economics professor from Bangladesh’s Jahangirnagar University, delivering a very powerful statement that is very familiar to those of us who are crafting business models that embrace the mobile web in developing and emerging economies…

Bayes, who has studied the impact of mobile phones on developing economies, estimates that GDP increases by one or two percent for every 10 percent increase in mobile phone access.

Global business news headlines are made daily within developing economies pertaining to partnerships among carriers and governments, carriers and device manufacturers, content providers and various parties, etc.  Much is debated globally over the role of government bureaucracy and regulation in expanding mobile access from an infrastructure perspective.  So much so, I believe the casual observer would tend to think that carrier penetration is the primary barrier to mobile access within developing economies.  I define quality mobile access as access to web-enabled banking, commerce, and social networking in its most simplistic formats.  When considering the substantive reality of solar powered phone technology and grid access, it becomes clear that network infrastructure (GSM coverage maps) is ahead of cost-effective device technology for the developing world consumer – with the goal of a quality mobile experience for the masses. With that said and as the solar technology matures, this short-cut to affordable power to enable such mobile access may prove to be one of this century’s greatest catalysts to economic opportunity.