Voice is getting commodified and profits are declining. People are not taking up more-than-voice services because they do not have money and see mobile as a consumption good. If, on the other hand, it is seen as a production good, something that puts money in the pocket, is it not realistic to think that it will be better for the operators?

LBO has carried an interesting piece based on the exchanges at the LIRNEasia presentation to industry on March 4th. Perhaps the readers have more to say?

Sri Lankans low income customers of mobile communications, used phones least for business related activities in the region, potentially opening up a new marketing opportunity for celcos, a new study has found.

The so-called bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) mobile customers in Bangladesh used phones most for business, financial or work related activities a new study by the policy think tank, LirneAsia has found.

“Sri Lanka is at the lowest end where only 21 percent people said they used the phone daily for business related transactions” said Harsha de Silva, lead economist of LIRNEasia said.

“Whereas in case of Bangladesh where we heard so about phones and using phones as ways of getting out of poverty. And micro finance entrepreneur use was very high, whereas in Sri Lanka it was very low.”

With hard times at our doorsteps, all we can say is a remittance mechanism that employs mobile communications would be an excellent idea. By the way, that is one area our research on Mobile2.0@BoP will focus.

Mobile phones are becoming increasingly important in bringing people into the Information Society.  It is widely accepted that the inhabitants of the future household will carry mobile devices that will be capable of voice and data communication, information retrieval and forms of entertainment consumption. Mobiles are now (and will increasingly become) payment devices that can also send, process and receive voice, text as well as images; in the next few years they will also be capable of information-retrieval and publishing functions normally associated with the Internet. Through such services and applications, industry experts predict that many in emerging markets will experience the Internet, or ‘elements’ of the Internet for the first time through a mobile phone, rather than a PC; mobile payments, mobile social networking, SMS voting are just a few examples of some of these services and applications.

Emerging markets appear to be following a different trajectory from developed markets; while the latter are moving forward via triple- and quadruple-play scenarios, the former are moving on paths that involve mobile phones as the key platform for bringing people affordably into the Information Society; something we describe as “2.0.”

This preconference will draw together research constituting evidence for and against this emerging Mobile2.0 narrative in the context of the larger social-science understanding of mobile-use behavior.  We welcome abstracts which will contribute to understanding emerging mobile use patterns, under the following areas of interest:

• Current trends in mobile connectivity and applications
• The potential of mobiles (and other ICTs) for bridging digital, gender as well as other socio-economic divides
• Mobiles (and other ICTs) making markets more efficient
• Mobile as a platform for Mobile2.0 services (e.g., payment, banking, government, etc)
• Policy and regulatory challenges for the new era of Mobile2.0
• Mobiles and social networking
• Mobile2.0 and shared access Comparisons between emerging and ‘emerged’ markets

The workshop will not be limited to papers dealing with the mobile as the path to the Information Society or to research dealing with the developing world, but we do expect these themes to be represented. We encourage papers that draw comparisons with other ICTs also. Up to five sessions will be accommodated.

In order to examine this question as well as other dimensions in mobile communication we are issuing a call for papers for a pre-conference at the 2009 meeting of the International Communication Association. Abstracts of no more than 500 words are due by October 31, 2008.  Please send them, along with your name and contact information to zainudeen{at}lirne{dot}net. Accepted abstracts will be notified by 21 November 2008. Final papers will be due by April 1, 2009.

The pre-conference is being organized by LIRNEasia. It will be held in Chicago.

Cost:
ICA Members: USD 90
ICA Student Members: USD 60

Please check http://www.icahdq.org for updates)

Organized by
Dr. Rohan Samarajiva, Executive Director, LIRNEasia
Ayesha Zainudeen, Senior Researcher, LIRNEasia

SFU News Online – Emergency communications vehicle will help Sri Lanka – January 10, 2008

Anderson is laying the groundwork for an advanced mobile emergency-communications (AMECom) vehicle for Sri Lanka’s disaster management program. The versatile, mobile communications vehicle will be similar to one he and his team designed and produced for emergencies in B.C. Completed in 2005, the B.C. vehicle is equipped with its own satellite dish and advanced communication systems for sending voice and data via satellite, cellular, land lines and wireless Internet. It also includes a number of two-way radio systems and an inter-operability switch for interconnectivity between radios and land-line, cellular or satellite telecommunications systems.Anderson is currently completing the operational and technical design plans for the Sri Lankan vehicle, in collaboration with the government of Sri Lanka and the U.N. International Telecommunications Union.

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For more than two years, a large group of engineers at Google have been working in secret on a mobile-phone project.

As word of their efforts has trickled out, expectations in the tech world for what has been called the Google phone, or GPhone, have risen, the way they do for Apple loyalists before a speech by Steve Jobs.

But the GPhone is not likely to be the second coming of the iPhone and Google’s goals are very different from Apple’s.

Google wants to extend its dominance of online advertising to the mobile internet, a small market today but one that is expected to grow rapidly. It hopes to persuade wireless carriers and mobile-phone makers to offer phones based on its software, according to people briefed on the project. The cost of those phones may be partly subsidised by advertising that appears on their screens.

Google is expected to unveil the fruit of its mobile efforts later this year, and phones based on its technology could be available next year.

Some analysts say that the Google project’s effect on the wireless industry is not likely to be as profound, at least initially, as that of Apple’s iPhone, whose revolutionary look and features have redefined consumer expectations for mobile phones.

“The iPhone was a milestone in terms of how people use a mobile device,” says Karsten Weide, an analyst with IDC. “The GPhone, if it does come out, will help Google with distribution for their online services.”

At the core of Google’s phone efforts is an operating system for mobile phones that will be based on open-source Linux software, according to industry executives familiar with the project.

In addition, Google is expected to develop mobile versions of its applications that go well beyond the mobile search and map software it offers today. Those applications may include a web browser to run on mobile phones.

While Google has built phone prototypes to test its software and show off its technology to manufacturers, the company is not likely to make the phones itself, according to analysts.

In short, Google is not creating a gadget to rival the iPhone, but rather creating software that will be an alternative to Windows Mobile from Microsoft and other operating systems, which are built into phones sold by many manufacturers. And unlike Microsoft, Google is not expected to charge phone makers a licensing fee for the software.

The essential point is that Google’s strategy is to lead the creation of an open-source competitor to Windows Mobile, according to one industry executive, who did not want his name used because his company has had contacts with Google. They will put it in the open-source world and take the economics out of the Windows Mobile business.

Some believe another major goal of the phone project is to loosen the control of carriers over the software and services that are available on their networks.

“Google’s agenda is to disaggregate carriers,” says Dan Olschwang, the chief executive of JumpTap, a start-up that provides search and advertising services to several mobile-phone operators.

Google declined to comment on any specifics of its mobile-phone initiative. But its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, has said several times that the mobile-phone market presented the largest growth opportunity for Google. “We have a large investment in mobile phones and mobile-phone platform applications,” he says.

Industry analysts say that Google, which has little experience with complex hardware, faces significant challenges.

“Running a website and a search engine is one thing,” says Weide of IDC. “But developing a phone is a whole different game. It will not be easy for them.”

Weide adds that Google’s impact on the industry will depend to a large extent on its ability to sign deals with wireless carriers that distribute hundreds of millions of phones each year and often control what software and services run on them.

Some carriers, especially in the United States, are likely to give Google a cool reception. Companies such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T have spent billions of dollars building and upgrading their networks, establishing relationships with customers, subsidising handsets and creating their own mobile internet portals. Now they want to make sure those investments pay off, in part, through mobile advertising, and they see Google and other search engines, which are after the same ad dollars, as competitors.

As a result, most carriers in the US have chosen to shun the major search engines for now. Instead, they have promoted the search engines and ad systems of small technology companies such as JumpTap and Medio Systems, whose services they can stamp with their own brands.

Most carriers declined to comment on Google’s plans. But Arun Sarin, chief executive of Britain’s Vodafone Group, which offers the Google service on its phones, says it is not clear what compelling functions Google will offer that are not already available.

“What is it that is missing in life that they are going to fulfil?” Sarin says. “It is not a no-brainer. You can reach Google already through a number of devices. You don’t need a Google phone to do that.”

Google’s desire to loosen the carriers’ control over their networks has hardly been a secret. The company recently lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to impose rules on any carrier that wins a coming auction for valuable wireless spectrum. The rules, which the FCC adopted despite opposition from Verizon and others, require that the network using a portion of that spectrum be open to any handset and software applications from any company.

Google says it is considering bidding for some of that spectrum. But regardless of who wins it, phones based on Google’s software will be able to take advantage of it.Google’s lobbying, as well as its work on a phone software platform that will be open to other applications, represents an effort to bring to the mobile internet the dynamics of the PC-oriented internet, which is free of control by network operators. Google is hoping that it can beat competitors in an open environment.

The mobile-phone project at Google is built in part around Android, a small mobile software company it acquired in 2005. An Android co-founder, Andy Rubin, had founded Danger, which created the popular T-Mobile Sidekick smart phone.

Rubin works at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, but another part of Google’s team is reported to be in Boston, where Android’s co-founder, Rich Miner, another veteran of the mobile-phone industry, is based.

Some analysts say there are no guarantees that Google will be able to replicate its online success in the mobile world.

“The wireless market does not have the same global scale and scope efficiencies, nor the lack of transactional friction, of software on the internet,” says Scott Cleland, a telecommunications industry analyst who recently testified before the US Senate against Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick.”

It is a completely different world and completely different set of economics,” says Cleland, who has opposed Google on a number of policy issues.

Microsoft, whose mobile operating system has been available for years, has distribution agreements with 48 handset makers and 160 carriers around the world. Still, only 12 million phones sold this year will be based on Microsoft’s software, giving it 10 per cent of the smart-phone market, according to IDC.

Microsoft declined to comment on potential competition from Google.”The market is huge and our partners are really motivated to bring Windows Mobile phones to market,” says Doug Smith, director for marketing of Microsoft’s mobile communications business.

Mahesh Veerina, founder and chief executive of Celunite, which makes mobile-phone software based on Linux, says Google’s offering is likely to be attractive to small carriers, which may see it as a competitive weapon.

But if Google-powered phones prove to be a hit with consumers, other carriers may feel pressure to follow suit, says Richard Doherty, director for the Envisioneering Group, a consulting firm.

“No one wants to be the last carrier to endorse Google,” he says.

The report contains unique insights in to the reliability of telecoms infrastructure throughout the conflict and examines the reasons why mobile communications played a pivotal role in ensuring that families stayed in touch, the population received food and medical supplies to the correct locations and emergency services could effectively plan their disaster response procedures. The study is at the very bottom of this link.

Qualcomm Under Scrutiny by Korean Antitrust Agency – New York Times

The South Korean antitrust agency has formed a task force to investigate the licensing and business practices of the wireless technology company Qualcomm, the latest in a string of legal battles for the company, officials said on Tuesday.

In Japan, Europe and the United States, Qualcomm, which is based in San Diego, faces accusations by rivals that it has abused its market dominance in wireless technology to demand excessive royalties and block fair competition.

Qualcomm is known for developing code-division multiple access, or CDMA, wireless technology, which is a rival standard to the global system for mobile communications, or GSM, technology. It makes money by selling chips that power cellphones, as well as collecting royalties or licensing its technology to other chip makers and cellphone manufacturers.

Ecology and economy is equally critical for mobile phone coverage in the less lucrative emerging markets. Diesel generators energise the base stations at remote locations. Supplying fuel across the unfriendly terrain is also a logistical nightmare. Such expensive exercise, however, inhibits the operators to invest in the low-yield regions.

These grueling problems have prompted the three organisations to set up a first of its kind pilot project in the world. They hope that bio-fuels may replace diesel as a source of power for mobile base stations located beyond the reach of the electricity grid.
 

They are setting up a supply chain designed to benefit the local population by sourcing a variety of locally-produced crops and processing them into bio-fuel in Nigeria. Groundnuts, pumpkin seeds, jatropha, and palm oil will be used in the initial pilot tests.
 

This non-fossil alternative gasoline also has a much lower impact on the environment than conventional diesel. Bio-diesel, being the cleaner burning fuel, results in fewer site-visits and also extends the life of the base station generator, reducing operators’ costs.
 

“In order to reach the next billion mobile users, we need to reach lower-spending segments of the population profitably,” said Ericsson’s sales and marketing vice president Bert Nordberg. “By using locally-produced bio-fuels, we could significantly lower the cost of operating mobile base stations in rural areas.”
 

The GSMA and Ericsson will draw on the findings of the pilot to help operators across the developing world to figure out they can use Bio-diesel to power their networks in the rural Nigeria.
 

Only 25 percent of this oil-rich country is connected to the electricity grid. MTN has invested in Y’ellowWatts, its own power system made up of an extensive grid of generators designed to keep the entire MTN network at an optimum level of performance.
 
“The early adoption of bio-fuel-powered mobile networks would place Africa at the forefront of a new wave of innovation that is making mobile communications affordable and accessible across the developing world,” said Karel Pienaar, CTIO of the MTN Group.
 Bio-diesel has several important advantages over conventional diesel as a power source for base stations. It can be produced locally, creating employment in rural areas, while reducing the need for transportation, related logistics and security.
 
“The extension of mobile networks into rural areas is vital to boost the social and economic welfare of the developing world,” said Rob Conway, GSMA’s CEO. “Bio-fuels have the potential to make that happen by giving mobile operators local access to a commercially and environmentally sustainable power supply.”
 

Bio-diesel has several important advantages over conventional diesel as a power source for base stations. It can be produced locally, creating employment in rural areas, while reducing the need for transportation, related logistics and security. “The extension of mobile networks into rural areas is vital to boost the social and economic welfare of the developing world,” said Rob Conway, GSMA’s CEO. “Bio-fuels have the potential to make that happen by giving mobile operators local access to a commercially and environmentally sustainable power supply.” The GSMA’s Development Fund finances this pilot project while Ericsson and MTN are setting up a pilot Bio-diesel-powered base station solution in Lagos and will later deploy Bio-diesel-fueled base stations in rural regions of south eastern and south western Nigeria.

The preliminary study has produced surprising findings with regards to the relative costs between prepaid and postpaid mobile tariff packages. It is hoped that the release of the preliminary results will engage disucssion with stakeholders, especially operators in the formulation of an accurate and standardized methodology to reflect the holistic costs associated with the use of mobile communications and which can yield meaningful comparisons across the region.

The study can be found HERE

The authors welcome comments and disucssion.

Link to full story

Motorola selected to supply affordable and robust handsets for second phase of programme to ‘connect the unconnected’

Singapore 27^th September 2005: The mobile industry has driven the wholesale cost of mobile phones to below US$30 as part of the GSM Association (GSMA) programme to make mobile telephony affordable for people in developing countries.
“To get below US$30 per handset is a milestone achievement,” said Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSMA, the global trade association for the world’s GSM mobile operators. “Today’s news cements the formation of a whole new market segment for the mobile industry and will bring the benefits of mobile communications to a huge swathe of people in developing countries.”
At the 3GSM World Congress in Singapore, Rob Conway, Chief Executive and board member of the GSMA, announced today that Motorola has been selected to supply the phase-two handset. “Motorola won thanks to a combination of a portfolio starting from sub-US$30, together with other key factors such as after-sales support, local service, brand presence and a choice of low-cost handset models including an exclusive product, the C113a for this programme,” said Conway.
The 10 operators supporting the second phase of the GSMA’s Emerging Market Handset programme expect to order about 6 million of these low-cost handsets from Motorola. The GSMA programme, which is chaired by Erik Aas, the Chief Executive of GrameenPhone Ltd. of Bangladesh, is supported by some of the leading operators in emerging markets – AIS, Bharti, BPL, Globe Telecom, Hutchison Essar, IDEA Cellular, MTN Group, Orascom Telecom, Telenor and Vodacom.
“The startup price is the single most important criteria for connecting the unconnected in emerging markets. The GSMA Emerging Market Handset initiative is a major step towards reducing the startup price, and will fuel significant economic growth, as well as major social changes, when so many new people can communicate directly from their home or on the move. “
Erik Aas, CEO of GrameenPhone.

Call-for-Papers

A well developed information infrastructure is critical to the emerging knowledge society. Arguably, it is the availability of “network-based development toolkit” that enables consumers to generate value for the suppliers in the so-called “reverse economy” scenario. Similarly, it is the availability of ubiquitous Web-based information access that provides deep support to individuals in the new paradigm of “distributed capitalism”. It might not be extravagant to claim that a sustainable knowledge society, to a great extent, relies on a sophisticated information infrastructure.

As part of the information infrastructure, mobile communication has developed at an extraordinarily high speed in both developing and developed countries. In 2002, the total number of mobile phone users historically surpassed that of the fixed-line telephone users on a global scale. In the mean time, the third generation mobile communications (3G) has been launched successfully in certain economies, including Hong Kong. Indeed, mobile communications has moved beyond being a mere instrument of communication to become a key element in every aspect of our daily lives and business.

Hong Kong Mobility Roundtable 2005 is an opportunity for academic scholars and business leaders to share their vision regarding the implications of mobile communication in the emerging knowledge society. The Conference Chairs are now inviting submissions on all topics related to the conference theme. Suggested topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

· The Adoption and Usage Pattern of Mobile Communications

· Dynamics of Mobile Data Communication

· Human and Social Considerations for Mobile Communications

· Integration of Mobile Communications and Information System

· M-commerce, M-business and M-Government

· Mobile Communications and Knowledge Management

· Convergence in the Era of Broadband Wireless Communications

· Location-based Services and its Implications

· WiMax, WiFi, Bluetooth, RFID and their Applications

· Mobile Communications: Opportunities and Challenges for the Media

· Mobile Communications and Digital Divide

· Regulatory Framework for M-Commerce

· Spectrum Regulation and Licensing

· The Role of Mobile Communications in the Social-economic Development

· Implementation and Management Strategies for Organizational Communications

· Mobile Transaction Security and Technology

· Privacy, Trust and Intellectual Property Rights

· Future of Peer-to-Peer on Mobile Networks

· Country Studies

Electronic version of an abstract of 400-500 words with authors’ affiliation and e-mail correspondence should be submitted to mobility@ust.hk on or before 15 February 2005.