MobileActive.org

Research concerning mobile phones and financial services in developing countries has undergone rapid growth in recent years. This paper seeks to improve understanding of this expanding research area and in so doing consider the potential for mobile phone applications for the delivery of financial services for the poor. The current state of knowledge is assessed by reviewing the content of 43 research articles drawn from both peer-reviewed academic journals and non-peer reviewed studies and other practitioner-orientated sources. A framework is developed that categorises and analyses the research according to a socio-technical spectrum, identifying levels of analysis and differentiating research activity according to a lifecycle model that incorporates financial needs, design and applications, adoption and adaptation, and impact. Positive aspects of research to-date are identified, most noticeably the high level of practitioner involvement in research publication and the strong links that have been forged between the mobile phone industry and the research community. This, however, has also caused research to become too narrowly defined and largely a- theoretical. Hence, research weaknesses and gaps are also identified suggesting that issues relating to financial needs and the measurement of impacts have been comparatively neglected, whilst application design and adoption have received greater attention. Emphasis tends to be on devices and new ways to deliver services, but ignores the broader context of financial services for the poor and tends to be technology-led. In order to correct this imbalance in research, the paper identifies key research gaps relating to concepts, methodologies, issues addressed and evidence presented and provides pointers to future research directions.

 

La telefonía móvil reduce la “distancia” entre los pequeños productores y las organizaciones locales, facilitando y haciendo más efectivo el intercambio de información y conocimientos. A través del uso del teléfono móvil, las redes sociales se fortalecen, los productores se empoderan y el costo de acceso a la información se reduce. Son inmensas las posibilidades que ofrecen los mensajes de texto SMS (hasta 160 caracteres) para compartir información a bajo costo y en forma instantánea. Con base en la información reunida durante mi participación en dos foros de la FAO sobre telefonía móvil y la revisión de algunas experiencias desarrolladas en África, Asia y América, sugiero una estrategia mediante la cual los pequeños productores podrían mejorar la comercialización de sus productos agrícolas al hacer un empleo efectivo de los mensajes de texto (SMS).

Mobile learning, or m-learning, is a personal, unobtrusive, spontaneous, “anytime, anywhere” way to learn and to access educational tools and material that enlarges access to education for all. It reinforces learners’ sense of ownership of the learning experience, offering them flexibility in how, when and where they learn. In developing countries, mobile technologies potentially deliver educa- tion without dependence on an extensive traditional communications infra- structure, leapfrogging some of the intervening development phases encoun- tered in developed countries such as installing extensive electricity power grids, and building multiple computer rooms in educational institutions. Although m-learning experience remains limited, it is becoming a credible, cost-effective component of blended open and distance learning (ODL) provisions, adaptable to an institution’s needs and situation. M-learning devices are lightweight and handheld, including: • Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and palmtop or handheld computers. • Mobile phones, also called cell phones or handphones. Consider mobile phones, which are cheap and widely available, alongside other wireless communication devices; and handhelds, which are more expensive and scarce, alongside desktop and laptop comput- ers. Mobile devices are educationally interesting because they offer: • Several communications channels on one device, for example, email, voice, and text messaging. • Cheaper, comparable functionality with desktops or laptops. • Wireless access to educational materials, other students and Internet resources. Handhelds are currently the dominant mobile devices, apart from basic mobile phones. These technologies are converging, creating power- ful all-in-one tools such as “smartphones,” mobile phones with the func- tionality of a handheld; and handhelds with mobile phone capability. This guide focuses on the use of handheld computers or smartphones in m-learning.

This report explores the ways in which non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) and
other groups deploy and use mobile
technology in their work to help solve some
of the world’s greatest problems. This study
is not meant to be exhaustive or definitive,
but rather to provide a view into how a
number of organizations are using mobile
technology to achieve social impact. The authors
selected case studies that enabled an
exploration of significant innovations,
opportunities, and emerging trends, as well
as the obstacles, in the use of mobile
technology to advance social goals.

Use of information and communication technologies for international development is moving
to its next phase. This will require new technologies, new approaches to innovation, new
intellectual integration, and, above all, a new view of the world’s poor. The phase change from information and communication
technologies for international
development (ICT4D) 1.0 to ICT4D 2.0 presents
opportunities for informatics professionals
and offers new markets for ICT vendors.
It also brings new challenges to our established methods
of working and emphasizes the need for new expertise
and new worldviews. Harnessing digital technologies in
the service of some of our world’s most severe problems
requires understanding these changes. Before proceeding,
though, we must ask why we should give priority to
ICT application for the poor in developing countries.

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on development policy issues including health, natural resources, education and more. This issue focuses on micro-entrepreneurs in Nigeria, mobile ladies in Bangladesh, unequal gender relations in Zambia, getting beyond the three billion mark, mobile banking and poor households in Jamaica.

The positive implications of landline telecoms infrastructure and, more recently, of mobile communications on
economic growth in the developed world have long been acknowledged, with numerous studies analysing the
issue. Now that most of the developed world has reached high penetration levels of mobile phones, both current
growth patterns and future projections suggest that virtually all of the mobile industry’s new customers in the
coming years will come from developing countries. In fact, as of 2007, there were more mobile customers in
developing countries than in the entire developed world (ITU).
What impact are mobile phones having on developing countries and are user experiences and overall impacts
unique or similar to those of developed countries? While it might seem intuitive to just extrapolate from the results
of earlier studies in developed countries, the developing world is in fact leap-frogging the developed world when
it comes to mobile communication and its many uses. The implications of this technology on daily life in
developing countries appear to be more far-reaching than they were in the earlier developed country rollouts. For
example, studies have demonstrated that mobile technology is driving improvements in social links, the creation
of social capital, improved market information flows and productivity, as well as increases in GDP and Foreign
Direct Investment.
This report surveys recent research and highlights the top studies in this area based on content, relevance,
originality and credibility. While it is not an exhaustive and scientifically developed list, it illustrates the work that
we feel is most important at the moment and highlights key conclusions on the impact of mobile technology in
developing countries.
Further, while the existing research is valuable in understanding the impacts, the literature is still limited in its
coverage and scope. We therefore recommend additional research to expand evidence and knowledge, particularly
with respect to basic economic studies, prospective applications and the needs of users around financial services.
We also call on stakeholders such as mobile operators, governments, industry groups, foundations and
development organisations to play their part in improving information sharing, increasing research and driving
developments in these countries.
Finally, we provide information on additional research on impacts and policy issues, as well.

Many developing country governments and developing agencies are focusing on extending telecommunications services into rural areas, as they seek to alleviate poverty, encourage economic and social growth, and overcome a perceived ‘digital divide’. However, relatively little is known about how rural communities benefit from modern telecommunications services and what impact it is having on their lives and livelihoods. This paper endeavors to redress the balance, by examining the role of mobile telephones in sustainable poverty reduction among the rural poor.

Every year almost 10 million children die before reaching
the age of five despite the fact that two-thirds of these
deaths could be prevented by effective low-cost
interventions. To combat this, the World Health
Organization (WHO) and UNICEF developed the
Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI)
treatment algorithms.
In Tanzania, IMCI is the national policy for the treatment
of childhood illness. This paper describes e-IMCI, a system
for administering the IMCI protocol using a PDA. Our
preliminary investigation in rural Tanzania suggests that e-
IMCI is almost as fast as the common practice and
potentially improves care by increasing adherence to the
IMCI protocols. Additionally, we found clinicians could
quickly be trained to use e-IMCI and were very enthusiastic
about using it in the future.

In much literature on social capital, it has been a widely held assertion that networks of informal relations is beneficial for the development of local regions as well as larger nations (Fukuyama 1995; Putnam 2000; Woolcock 2001). Regional areas with a well developed network of informal connections and communities are believed to produce benefits leading to increased regional competitiveness, economic growth and prosperity. The last decade mobile communication tools have rapidly saturated several emerging markets in Asia and Africa (Donner 2008; Kumar and Thomas 2006). As a tool that is mainly used to connect individuals across space and time; mobile phones appears to have qualities that can spur social capital development for private persons as well as enterprises and larger regions. In line with this, some recent studies have found support the argument that mobile phones is beneficial for regional and local development (Goodman 2007; Jensen 2007). Still, others has been more reluctant and critical towards the “network effect” coming out of mobile phone usage among small enterprises (Chowdhury 2006) and some studies has found that private ties, rather than business relations are strengthened through the implementation of mobile phones (Donner 2004).
This paper addresses the question of mobile telephony usage and local development by looking at how mobile voice dialogues and SMS (text messages on mobile phones) are used by small enterprises in Malaysia. More explicitly, the study explores the kind of relations that are supported by these tools during the work day, as well as their physical proximity and perceived importance for business development. The study is based on in-depth studies of 12 small enterprises (between 5 and 20 employees) operating within agriculture, retail and financial services in the Selangor district. The paper presents initial findings, indicating differences in mobile phone usage between the three sectors, and highlighting general trends cutting across all sectors. Methodologically the study draws on quantitative social network techniques (to map mobile calls and SMS messages during a week), as well as qualitative interviews with managers and a sample of employees in the enterprises.

Mobile technology lets the users implement several strategies in order to minimize their spending. This paper documents the study of the determinants of the use of different strategies for a sample of users surveyed during May 2007 in developing countries as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. This survey is focused in low income people and includes about 5500 people. The methodology used includes two steps. First, the study of the determinants of use of each strategy by means of a probabilistic model. It was found that educative level and age are important determinants of the use of the alternatives. Second, the use of a Poisson regression model to capture the intensity of use of these set of strategies. The findings differ among countries.

This paper examines the design process of the health communication process within the framework of the ICT-for-healthcare-development model (ICT4HC) (Author, Lwin, Ang, Lin, & Santoso, 2008). The paper analyzes the planned deployment of an ICT4H project that introduced a mobile telephony-based system to a specific group of users, rural midwives, and examine the myriad impacts and constraints that arise. The broad research question the paper aims to answer pertains to the design and evaluation of mobile phone-based ICT4H projects using a generalizable theoretical frameworks, specifically the ICT4HC model.

In many parts of the world, mobile phones are important devices that have proven to be the first
opportunity for many people to have access to telecommunications. Considering the possible
impact of this development in welfare, the main purpose of this research is to investigate how
important formal education is for using mobile phones in making production decisions.
Specifically, we will analyze if this kind of technology is employed for production decisions in
rural areas in Puno, a Peruvian department in the southern highlands, bordering Bolivia. In
our case, production comprises livestock and agriculture. One of the main results is that no
matter how educated people are; if education is of poor quality, it will not have a significant
impact on the probability of making an effective use of mobile phones.

This paper describes strategies to lower the cost
of providing Automated Teller Machine microdeposit services
in rural contexts. Microdeposits represent a growing market
in the developing world, but the cost of running a
conventional ATM network is prohibitive due to the capital
investment required to deploy networks and terminals.
Our novel contributions are to use the Short Message
Service (SMS) over high-penetration GSM cellular networks
in conjunction with a system using location awareness to
intelligently distribute available balances among machines.
This allows us to provide high levels of service while
simultaneously reducing risk to the financial institution and
lowering per-transaction cost.
Using a simulation of ATM usage patterns and
distributions, our primary results under our model are: (1)
transaction cost per user per year can be optimized to less
than USD 0.18 given an SMS loss rate of approximately 10%
while (2) customer withdrawal success rate can be maintained
at approximately 98% with (3) a maximum of 5% of funds on
deposit available in cash in ATMs at any given time.
These results make wide deployment of rural ATM services
by financial institutions feasible and economically viable in
the near term using existing commodity tech

There is global use of technology in medicine and health communication, leading to terms such as telemedicine, telehealth and e-health. A wide range of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has been used both in the provision of services, as well as in messaging and communication campaigns. In South Africa limited internet penetration has led to more experimentation with cellphones. This paper provides a discussion of these projects, focusing on: The Teen SMS Helpline of the South African Depression and Anxiety Group; SIMPill which assists with compliance to tuberculosis medication; and CellLife’s Cellphones for HIV programme. The projects are described, with reflection on the possibilities for the uses of cellphones in healthcare, weighing advantages and disadvantages, particularly in the local context.