Mobile communication alters rural landscape
Mobile communication is revolutionizing economic and social life in rural India, according to a new study by The Center for Knowledge Societies (CKS).
Mumbai, Jan 26, 2007
Mobile communication is revolutionizing economic and social life in rural India, according to a new study by The Center for Knowledge Societies (CKS).
CKS, a research, design and innovation company specializing in emerging technologies for emerging economies, in its report highlights seven major areas that could undergo transformation through mobile technology:
*Transport At present, only 1% of Indian households own a vehicle, and about 45% of the villages are still deprived of public transport; under such scenario, mobile communication could be used to create and co-ordinate car sharing schemes amongst villages, and provide real-time information about public transport services and the ability to make request stops.
*Micro-commerce -Mobile phones could significantly change the logistical issues faced by rural traders and home entrepreneurs, by affording mobile-based ordering systems, delivery requests, and the ability to make more reliable and advance arrangements with business partners or clients.
*Finance - Mobile networks and financial services institutions could work together to test and develop new financial services in this area and address how people can transfer these credits into cash.
*Healthcare - Mobile services could better connect rural communities, creating networks to share and discuss health information and advice.
*Governance - Mobile platform could provide access to rural communities for government information and services, using text, data, and audio browsing techniques.
*Education - Mobile phones could serve as a means for children to become connected to one another for educational and peer-learning activities, particularly important for communities that are either nomadic or transitional on account of displacements due to a natural disaster or for other reasons.
*Infotainment - There are many opportunities for local, peer-to-peer content to be created and distributed, affording new cultural and economic opportunities to rural communities.
Six million new mobile subscriptions are added every month, in India. It is estimated that three quarters of India's population will be covered by a mobile network, by the end of 2008, a majority of which would be from rural areas with scarce infrastructure and facilities, high illiteracy levels, low PC and internet penetration. The study looks at how the new mobility could be used to bridge the growing economic and social digital divide between rural and urban areas.
Aditya Dev Sood, the author of the report, founder & CEO, CKS, said, "While mobile phones are widely seen merely as a communications medium, they should really be seen as a new and essential form of infrastructure that will transform a host of other service sectors in rural economies around the world."
Sood highlights the rise in incomes of many new adopters of mobile phones, and attributes this to the increased productivity, made possible through mobile communications.
The report recommends that local and state government should integrate their telecom regulatory, tax and rural development policies, and encourage and support the roll out of mobile services. The mobile industry should increase rural mobile connectivity with not only lower prices and costs of ownership but also with relevant applications and services. Non-governmental organizations need to work much more closely with the mobile industry to understand and test the technological possibilities.
Source : CXOtoday.com