Mobile phones are an amazing success story in the developing world, bringing transformative opportunities to many underserved communities. But they do not reach out to remote rural villages – where there is demand and purchasing power, albeit limited – and a scaleable micro mobile teclo solution could transform communications and development for the poorest of the poor.
So what might be the business and technology models that would allow entrepreneurs to roll out mobile phone systems to these underserved communities? And could development organizations play a role?
Which technology would be best: GSM? WiFi? WiMax? What’s the business case: Handset sales? Subscriptions? Airtime Only? Could voice services be augmented with data? Even broadband? How might an entrepreneur serve 400 customers at $10 per month revenue or $48,000 per annum? And should aid organizations seed these businesses?
Join David Ferguson, for a lively discussion of possible micro mobile telco models and expect to hit the whiteboards with your ideas.
As a young man, I enjoyed long hair. Midway down my back in a long pony-tail, my hair signified my membership in the surfer tribe. We were the beach bums who could grow our hair long and enjoy the day, unrestricted by convention or conformity.
Fast forward a few years, and my hair was short – clipped to get my first job and kept short thereafter for ease as much as employment. In Russia, I started spiking my hair up, but by this century, it was time to leave youth and keep it short and contained.
Read MoreIn April of 2008, I started the Technology Salon as a forum where technology and development professionals could share there opinions on emerging trends in information and communication technologies and international development in an intimate and informal discussion around:
Now, almost a year later, the Technology Salon is developing into a real community of practice – a network of development and technology professionals who share a common passion for ICT4D, and through regular interaction and communication, are improving their knowledge and implementation expertise in empowering development with technology.
From its inception and reinforced through feedback from its participants, I’ve found there are three attributes keys to the Technology Salon success and growth:
In 2009, I look to improve on the Technology Salon’s success while maintaining its three key attributes – conversation, intimacy, privacy. Its goal is to evolve beyond its current exclusive nature into a standard of discourse between technology and development professionals.