"We started by performing fieldwork in five countries, covering the four main SSA regions: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. We then conducted 116 interviews across 78 organizations, covering the overall ecosystem: mobile network operators (MNOs), aggreg
...
ators, donors, multilateral organizations and nongovernmental organization (NGOs). The following are key findings by mobile channel: SMS volumes are driven by a few players, mostly multilateral agencies; Voice/IVR allows for rich interactions, but impact needs to be documented further. USSD usage by aid and development players appears limited despite promise; Interest in mobile money is high among both supply and demand players; Mobile internet adoption is still limited in potential. In each of the five countries, the 2018 market value of all mobile channels generated by NGOs and multilateral organizations was estimated at between $500,000 and $1 million. Using data from these five countries to extrapolate to all 48 countries in SSA, the total 2018 market is estimated at $15.7 million, with mobile money standing out as the largest channel. This aggregate number for the sector appears low compared to the overall size of the telecommunications market. Market appeal is further reduced by the fact that the mobile sector already perceives the aid and development sector as being difficult to work with, due to uncertainty of demand, long procurement processes and other factors. While price has been cited as a reason for this low aggregate number, the fieldwork suggests that it is driven more by the lack of awareness of many implementing partners, particularly at the country level. These challenges to scale are consistent with qualitative findings obtained from DIAL’s Ecosystem Baseline study in 2018. That said, the market appears bound to grow due to strong underlying trends. Our model predicts three scenarios that show a 2022 market value of between $31.6 million and $61.6 million." (Executive summary, page 4)
more
"Having surpassed 5 billion people connected to mobile services in 2017, the global mobile industry will reach further milestones over the next eight years. The number of unique mobile subscribers will reach 5.9 billion by 2025, equivalent to 71% of the world’s population. Growth will be driven by
...
developing countries, particularly India, China, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The speed of growth is slowing though, with most of the developed world approaching saturation. The more significant growth opportunity will lie in mobile internet – a market that will add 1.75 billion new users over the next eight years, reaching a milestone of 5 billion mobile internet users in 2025." (Executive summary)
more
"The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media seeks to be the definitive publication for scholars and students interested in comprehending all the various aspects of mobile media. This collection, which gathers together original articles by a global roster of contributors from a variety of disciplines, s
...
ets out to contextualize the increasingly convergent areas surrounding social, geosocial, and mobile media discourses. Features include:comprehensive and interdisciplinary models and approaches for analyzing mobile media; wide-ranging case studies that draw from this truly global field, including China, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, as well as Europe, the UK, and the US; a consideration of mobile media as part of broader media ecologies and histories; chapters setting out the economic and policy underpinnings of mobile media; explorations of the artistic and creative dimensions of mobile media; studies of emerging issues such as ecological sustainability; up-to-date overviews on social and locative media by pioneers in the field." (Back cover)
more
"In this Ericsson Mobility Report, we continue to describe the evolution towards the Networked Society. Between 2015 and 2021, the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to increase at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23 percent, making up close to 16 billion of the total forecast 28 billion
...
connected devices in 2021." (Page 3) "The number of mobile subscriptions exceeds the population in many countries. This is largely due to inactive subscriptions, multiple device ownership or optimization of subscriptions for different types of calls. This means the number of subscribers is lower than the number of subscriptions. Today there are around 5 billion subscribers compared to 7.4 billion subscriptions." (Page 5)
more
"Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been the fastest growing region over the last five years, in terms of both unique subscribers and connections. By June 2014, there were 329 million unique subscribers, equivalent to a penetration rate of 38%. Consumers, governments and businesses across SSA are rapidly
...
adopting mobile, not only as a basic communication tool, but also to access information and a growing range of new applications and services. As of June 2014, there were 608 million connections in SSA, including seven million machine-tomachine (M2M) connections." (Executive summary)
more
"Asia Pacific is the world’s largest mobile region but also one of the most diverse regions in terms of the levels of both economic and mobile market development. Asia Pacific dominates the global mobile industry in terms of both unique subscribers and connections, having seen significant growth o
...
ver recent years and with it set to remain the second fastest growing region over the period out to 2020 (during which time it will add over 750 million new subscribers)." (Executive summary)
more
"Mobile has scaled dramatically over recent years in the Arab States. The region’s mobile industry is one of the fastest growing globally, with over half of the population having subscribed to a mobile service at the end of 2013. This figure is forecast to reach almost 60% of the population by 202
...
0, broadly in line with the global average. At the end of 2013 there were 195 million unique subscribers and 404 million connections (i.e. SIM cards)." (Executive summary)
more
"This report presents a comprehensive and multidimensional overview of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) sector in Afghanistan, covering developments and intersections across the areas of Internet and telecom infrastructure; policy, services, accessibility and affordability; key
...
players and operators; and legal and regulatory governance frameworks." (Foreword)
more
"Analyzes the growth and evolution of mobile telephony, including the rise of data-based services delivered to handheld devices through “apps” (applications) and other ways. Summarizing current thinking and seeking to inform the debate on the use of mobile phones to improve livelihoods, the repo
...
rt looks, in particular, at key ecosystem-based applications in agriculture, health, financial services, employment, and government, with chapters devoted to each, and explores the consequences of the emerging “app economy” for development. The global conversation is no longer about the phone itself, but about how it is used and the content and applications that it opens up. These apps and “mash-ups” of services, driven by high-speed networks, social networking, online crowdsourcing, and innovation, are helping mobile phones transform lives in developed and developing countries alike." (Back cover)
more
"This report gives an overview of the current state of mobile phone use and services in East Africa. It outlines major trends and main obstacles for increased use as well as key opportunities and potential for upscaling mobile applications. The report draws on secondary data and statistics, as well
...
as field work carried out in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda during 2008 and 2009. The publication identifies a broad range of mobile applications relevant for reaching the poor and contributing to social and economic development – from simple agricultural, market or health information services to advanced financial transaction services or mobile use for election monitoring and governance issues. A commented linklist of existing initiatives in the four countries adds to the usefulness of this well documented study." (CAMECO Update 1-2011)
more
"There are increasing numbers of mobile-based projects, and donors such as the World Bank infoDev and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation continue to invest in mobiles for development (M4D). A scan of projects in the 14 focus countries for this study indicated that the most common sectors for inve
...
stment are health, socio-economic development, and agriculture. There is evidence that governments are interested in using mobiles as service providers, yet there remain few actual manifestations of such intent in developing countries. Most examples are found in Asia, where concepts have been proven, and more mature mobile markets are seeking new revenue streams. Up to this point, mobile operators have tended to support M4D through concessions such as free or subsidized shortcodes and SMS tariffs, which have been negotiated as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes. A feature of CSR initiatives in health, education, and child protection, for example, is that they rarely exploit technical resources held by companies. CSR departments tend to be poorly integrated with the core business, and have small budgets and limited decision-making power. Some operators would like to develop services that have a developmental impact, but also a return on investment – M4D that is revenue generating and scalable. As one interviewed thought leader in the M4D space indicated, operators are happy to work towards achieving development goals but only by “doing business as usual”." (Executive summary, page 2)
more
"Youth and young adults (15-29) are often assumed to be leaders in mobile phone use, but this is not entirely the case in Zambia. While those 15 to 29 make up the largest segment of overall mobile phone users, they do not show the highest rate of weekly (regular) users that is taken by those 30 to 4
...
4. Geographic Breakdown: There are substantial differences in rates of mobile phone use among Zambia's nine provinces. These differences reflect varying levels of human development around the country, but other factors come into play. Cost Factors: When respondents were asked to agree or disagree that "using a mobile phone is expensive," 63 percent answered in the affirmative. Even those residing in high-income households were more likely to agree than disagree with the statement. The same can be said for frequent mobile users, with some 52 percent of daily users and 53 percent of regular users agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement that mobile phone use is expensive. Mobile Radio: A key feature of Zambian (and more generally, African) mobile phone use is an old-new media convergence phenomenon: handset-based radio listening. Among regular mobile users, a third said they listen to the radio via their handset on a weekly basis, and 25 percent said they listen on a daily basis. Unlike the use of mobile internet, radio listening is more evenly spread across urban and rural users. Mobile-based radio listening may also continue to expand; given that youth and young adults (YYAs) are currently the most likely to do so and thus will set the pattern going forward." (Report sumary, page 7)
more
"A decade ago, mobile phone usage in Afghanistan was almost nonexistent; now there are 13 million subscriptions for a total of 29 million citizens, and the annual growth rate of subscription is estimated at 53 percent. A number of factors have fueled this dramatic increase, including the sheer popul
...
ar demand for communication, an absence of viable landline substitutes, government deregulation, and a competitive market that flourishes despite the conflict. Each of the major telecommunications companies in Afghanistan identifies the same five challenges to future expansion: poverty, high illiteracy rates, corruption, an untrained workforce, and lack of security. Despite these challenges, Afghanistan has proved an exceptional case study in the use of mobile phones for social change in support of peacebuilding, as it has been the focus of numerous pilot application programs conducted by the government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector. Mobile money transfer (MMT) applications have proved to be powerful mechanisms for helping to reduce corruption, foster security sector reform, and promote economic development. Yet neither the international community nor the Afghan government has shown the will or the capacity to move MMT programs forward at a pace commensurate with their demonstrated potential. At least two other high-value mobile applications were cited during the June summit as having improved conditions for stability and reconstruction in early deployments: (1) the provision of market information through mobile phones, especially in the agricultural sector, and (2) the use of mobile phones to strengthen local governance and civil society. Both applications have sufficient promise to warrant large-scale rollouts and merit careful consideration by international donors, whose support is vital during the transition to sustainability." (Summary)
more
"In Ihren Händen halten Sie die zweite Auflage unserer Publikation „Auslandsmärkte als Chance“. Als wir vor gut zwei Jahren die erste Ausgabe veröffentlichten, florierte die Weltwirtschaft und mit ihr die IT- und Telekommunikationsmärkte. Wer hätte damals gedacht, dass wir im Jahr 2009 die
...
schlimmste Wirtschaftskrise der jüngeren Geschichte erleben würden? Inzwischen zeigen glücklicherweise fast alle Wirtschaftsindikatoren wieder nach oben. Gleichwohl werden viele Länder – Deutschland eingeschlossen – einige Jahre brauchen, bis sie das Vorkrisenniveau erreichen. Die Informations- und Kommunikationswirtschaft ist mit vergleichsweise geringen Einbußen durch die Krise gekommen. Es gab zwar herbe Umsatzeinbrüche in einigen Marktsegmenten, daneben aber auch einzelne Bereiche mit anhaltendem Wachstum. Jetzt geht es darum, die sich im Zuge der wirtschaftlichen Erholung bietenden Chancen mit Mut und Kreativität zu nutzen. Ganz wesentlich ist dabei, nicht nur in rein nationalen Kategorien zu denken. Hochtechnologien „made in Germany“ können von dem erwarteten Aufschwung der Weltwirtschaft überproportional profitieren. Das gilt auch und gerade für Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien. Dem interessierten Leser ein Leitfaden, dem Unternehmer eine wertvolle Orientierungshilfe – das ist der Anspruch dieser Broschüre. Transparenz, Kontakte und verläßliche Information sind die Zutaten für ein erfolgreiches Auslandsgeschäft. Diese Publikation möchte dazu einen Beitrag leisten." (Vorwort)
more