Mobile coverage reaches over 90% of the world's population, but mobile services in traditionally rural, lower-income areas have lagged compared to opportunities in more urban areas. One company in India, Ekgaon, is tapping into the rural market by bringing financial, agricultural, and citizen-oriented mobile services to under-served regions. Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya, CEO of Ekgaon, explained to MobileActive.org how his company developed and evolved over the years.
With a focus on under-served markets, Ekgaon partners with financial institutions, agricultural organizations, NGOs, and corporations to bring mobile services to those who need them. Users of the agricultural system receive personalized and customized soil nutrient management information and crop advice along with weather updates, market information, and alerts; users of the financial services use mobiles to manage savings, remittances, insurance, investments and mortgages; and citizen services allow users to monitor and report on the delivery of government programs.
SharedSolar: Mobiles and Micro-Grids For More Efficient Energy data sheet 3317 Views
It is an unfortunate irony that often the poorest people pay the most for the lowest quality energy. In many areas, the rural poor pay as much as 5 USD per month for kerosene or battery power. SharedSolar is a project that attempts to develop the technology, and business case to connect these populations to better, more traditional energy sources. It does so by leveraging existing mobile networks.
With SharedSolar, rural poor consumers make payments based on their usage by using a scratch card and adding credit via SMS. The system uses a micro-grid network to connect consumers to power, and each household uses a unique prepaid metering system. A group of up to 20 consumers (individuals, households, small businesses, or schools) are all located within a 50 meter radius of a single, central power source -- such as solar panels -- connected via an underground wire.
At the same time, the SharedSolar team is testing and developing its business model to show that a case exists for micro-grids and mobile energy payment. The team launched an initial pilot in 2010 in Pelengana, Mali and currently has systems set up in Uganda and Tanzania.
MobileActive.org spoke with Matt Basinger, project lead for SharedSolar, to learn more about the overlap of mobile technology and rural power.
The app addresses stockouts and market connectivity problems for remote users. in general, it lowers costs and increases performance for the flow of goods to and from villages. For village producers (of crops, milk, arts, crafts and textiles) it serves as a market connection mechanism (like Craig's list). For village consumers (of medicines, healthcare, and retail goods) it optimizes inventory policy for the shopkeeper to maintain reliable availability.
Samaanguru is a robust mobile supply chain management platform that addresses stock visibility, inventory control, order management, demand forecasting, optimization, and analytic visualization of transactional activity.
Tool Category:
App resides and runs on a mobile phone
Is a web-based application/web service
Key Features :
Mobile stock counts, issues (sales), receipts (purchases), order placement, order view/negotiate/confirm, and material information displays.
Configurable browser-side demand board, mapping, reports, analytics, etc.
It's an out-of-the-box configurable supply chain management toolkit.
Main Services:
Other
Information Resources/Information Databases
Display tool in profile:
Yes
Tool Maturity:
Currently deployed
Release Date:
2011-09
Platforms:
Java ME
All phones/Mobile Browser
Current Version:
1.9
Program/Code Language:
Java
Languages supported:
English
Handsets/devices supported:
All feature phones supporting Java MIDP 2.0 or higher (Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Micromax, Chinese knock-offs, etc.) Some Android handsets (because they support Java apps)
India: The Impact of Mobile Phones (ICRIER Report) data sheet 2120 Views
Author:
ICRIER
Publication Date:
Jan 2009
Publication Type:
Journal article
Abstract:
Research carried out by International Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). The ICRIER researchers looked at three segments of the population – the agriculture sector, the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector and urban slum dwellers. The research demonstrates that access to telecommunications is an important catalyst to realizing productivity and efficiency improvements and thereby making it possible for the benefits of economic growth. The research in this report on the uses and impacts of mobiles in agriculture show that improving productivity and rural incomes requires an array of enablers in the production cycle, which runs from planting to the final sale of produce; access to information is an important enabler.
The lack of adequate infrastructure is particularly acute in rural areas, home to 70% of India’s population and the 52% of the work force that is primarily engaged in agriculture and related activities. Agriculture in India accounts for 18% of national income, implying extremely low agricultural productivity. Until now, the focus of mobile operators’ attention has been on the more lucrative urban markets. The high cost of infrastructure rollout in less dense rural areas and affordability barriers for the rural population are likely reasons. But there are signs that this is changing. Infrastructure rollout in rural areas is now eligible for subsidy and all major providers have reported future plans for expansion in rural India.
Small farmers often struggle to access high-quality inputs such as advanced seed varieties, or services such as soil testing or credit, fertilizers, availability of loan options and efficient distribution networks and weather forecast. Therefore a very uneven access to information is seen currently. A national survey of farmers found that only 40% of farmer households accessed information about modern agricultural techniques and inputs while a lot of them still depend on other progressive farmers.
Building an SMS Network into a Rural Healthcare System data sheet 1992 Views
Author:
Joshua Nesbit
Publication Date:
Jan 2010
Publication Type:
Other
Abstract:
This guide provides an inexpensive way to create an SMS communications network to enable healthcare field workers as they serve communities and their patients. The steps are purposefully simple – the system is easy to set up, use and maintain.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Who might benefit from a text-based communications network? 2. What are the benefits for my hospital, clinic or organization and the people it serves? 3. What technology do I need? 4. Do I need an internet connection? 5. How expensive is an SMS network? 6. How do I distribute communication credit? 7. How much staff training is required? 8. How much time does it take, per day, to manage the SMS network? 9. How do I conduct SMS training? 10. What is the best power source for the cell phones? 11. Do the CHWs communicate with each other? 12. Where can I find more information on FrontlineSMS?
An Exploratory Study of Unsupervised Mobile Learning in Rural India data sheet 2636 Views
Author:
Kumar, A., Tewari, A., Shroff, G., Chittamuru, D., Kam, M., and Canny, J.
ISSN/ISBN Number:
978
Publication Date:
Apr 2010
Publication Type:
Other
Abstract:
Cellphones have the potential to improve education for the millions of underprivileged users in the developing world. However, mobile learning in developing countries remains under-studied. In this paper, we argue that cellphones are a perfect vehicle for making educational opportunities accessible to rural children in places and times that are more convenient than formal schooling. We carried out participant observations to identify the opportunities in their everyday lives for mobile learning. We next conducted a 26-week study to investigate the extent to which rural children will voluntarily make use of cellphones to access educational content.
Our results show a reasonable level of academic learning and motivation. We also report on the social context around these results. Our goal is to examine the feasibility of mobile learning in out-of-school settings in rural, underdeveloped areas, and to help more researchers learn how to undertake similarly difficult studies around mobile computing in the developing world.
There are two new projects in India that are taking advantage of the ubiquity of mobile phones and cheap voice calling there in order to get news to rural villagers. Widespread illiteracy makes newspapers and SMS alerts inadequate as news delivery systems, and irregular electricity makes television and radio unreliable. Voice calls are also very inexpensive in India, with per-second billing and a downward price-war among the main operators. Voice calls over mobile phones are an easy way for villagers to stay informed.
In the region of Uttar Pradesh, Gaon Ki Awaaz delivers twice-daily news updates via voice calls to villagers in their native Avhadi language. Launched in December 2009, the project now has 250 subscribers spread throughout 20 villages. Read our case study on the project here.
Further south, a similar project is operating among the members of the Adivassi tribe in India. Like Gaon Ki Awaaz, it allows villagers to share and receive news over their mobile phones in their native language (in this case, Gondi). Launched by Shubhranshu Choudhary of the International Center for Journalists, the project focuses on citizen reports with dozens of citizen journalists reporting throughout the region. Watch the video below to see how the project works. For more on audio services, see also our recent scan of projects and tools, Talk to Me: A Survey of Voice-Based Mobile Tech.
These two projects highlight the promise of the mobile phone for targeted news reporting; mobiles can provide cheap, reliable access to hyper-local news that may be more independent than government-controlled media. As mobiles become more common in rural areas, similar projects can provide a way to keep citizens connected.
Anne-Ryan Heatwole is a writer for MobileActive.org
Automating Internal Control at a Rural Coffee Cooperative data sheet 2638 Views
Author:
Vila; Mario, Scwartzman, Yael; Parikh, Tapan S.
Publication Date:
Sep 2006
Publication Type:
Report/White paper
Abstract:
Internal control systems allow agricultural cooperatives
to monitor the growing practices of their members, ensuring
adherence to various standards for quality, and for meeting
external certification requirements. In this paper, we present
the motivation, design and evaluation of an automated mobile
data collection, evaluation and reporting tool for internal control
at a coffee cooperative. Our design goals were to improve the
efficiency of this process, and to increase the accountability of
various stakeholders. Based on a three-month pilot deployment,
we have demonstrated a 30% reduction in inspection time and
71% reduction in evaluation time, compared to the earlier paperbased
approach, which relied on several manual data collection
and information processing steps. We also present the results
of a qualitative evaluation of the system, including real field
experiences and the perceived benefits and drawbacks of the
automated system from the perspective of inspectors, farmers
and other stakeholders.
Mobile phones bridge the rural digital divide, bring economic benefits, and act as agents of social mobilization through improved communication. But what are the real challenges of reaching rural areas, and what are some of today’s most beneficial applications that can help rural communities, specifically regarding agriculture development?
The Virtual Forum on "Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas" will examine the challenges that rural communities face in enhancing the benefits of mobile telephony, and look at some examples of interesting initiatives and good outcomes from around the globe.
The rural mobile market is growing, and carriers are working to meet the unique demands and challenges of this sector of the population. Even in the poorest countries -- like Sierra Leone, which ranks 176 out of 177 countries on the UN's 2006 Human Development Index -- mobile phones have become a growing necessity, creating a unique set of cultural norms and practices. According to a recent article in Africa News, "It is no secret that Sierra Leone has one of the largest mobile network services although said to be the least developed country in the West African Sub-Region." Mobile service in Sierra Leone is covered by three carriers -- Mobitel, Celtel and Millicom. Although the network has increased dramatically since the civil war ended in 2000, there is still demand from rural customers for more comprehensive coverage in poor rural areas.