Comments on: Mobile Technology, Poverty and Development

By: The Right Device for the Developing World | Mobile Strategy

The Right Device for the Developing World | Mobile Strategy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:35:06 +0000

[...] while back we wrote a post entitled Mobile Technology, Poverty and Development which was fairly well received. Although this topic may be considered slightly off-topic to some [...]

By: Mobile Banking. Set to take off… again! | m|strat

Mobile Banking. Set to take off… again! | m|strat — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:18:06 +0000

[...] probably much farther behind than most other countries. In fact mobile banking is much bigger in underdeveloped countries than it is in Canada (go ahead click the previous [...]

By: Hannes

Hannes — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:51:57 +0000

Thanks for referencing my blog. I try and be controversial in what I write on my blog – I would like to push boundaries, rather than repeat common wisdom. While it is true that mobile provides accessibility and I fully agree with you, I do believe that a big reason for poverty is a lack of financial skills. Many poor people are in a financial mess because of ill-conceived loans and bad financial planning. Coming to think of it many rich people are too…

By: Katrin Verclas

Katrin Verclas — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:17:01 +0000

Hi — thanks for the shoutout to MobileActive.org, the site and network that I run. You might be interested in a few other articles:

1. Is mobile banking reducing poverty? http://mobileactive.org/mobile-banking-really-reducing-poverty-close-look-promise-v-reality

2. The Village Phone Ladies, oft heralded as one of the ways women got out of poverty through mobile tech and whether this is still true: http://mobileactive.org/grameen-village-phone-ladies

3.Jason Urbach, an economist, on poverty and mobiles: http://mobileactive.org/ubiquitous-power-cellphones-jasson-urbach

4. Mobiles for development – or for poverty? http://www.mobileactive08.org/node/954

There is also a very good post by Richard Heeks on mobiles for impoverishment where he queries the literature: http://ict4dblog.wordpress.com/2008/12/27/mobiles-for-impoverishment/

5. Finally, the GSMA Development Fund has an overview of twenty studies documenting the social and economic impact of mobiles (only in PDF, it seems): http://gsmworld.com/documents/GSMA_development_fund_top20_print.pdf -
Thanks!

By: Josh Wong

Josh Wong — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:36:30 +0000

Sorry… That is to say, the SIM card (service) was RM8.5… Not the phone itself. If I’m not mistaken, similar plans in Canada, the US or Australia would be at least $20 for the SIM card?

By: Josh Wong

Josh Wong — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:35:00 +0000

I completely agree with your point about accessibility.

I noticed how this idea is further compounded, in my own experience, while working in Malaysia in 2000. I once met a truck driver for the construction company I was working for. I noted that although he was “poor and had trouble feeding his kids” he had two cell phones (one personal and one for work).

Interesting to note, that many developing countries lack the infrastructure for land-lines, and as a result have skipped directly to wireless making it incredibily cheap. A pay-as-you-go cell phone only cost RM8.5 (which included RM5 talk time – conversion rate approx RM3 to $1CND). CHEAP (even considering relative price parity)!

By: Buscador de Numeros Celulares

Buscador de Numeros Celulares — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:36:39 +0000

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