MobileActive.org

If communications and high-tech companies are to achieve their growth targets over the next few years, they must look to the emerging economies. These markets, with large populations, hold great promise. Although many consumers in these areas live in rural areas and rely on more limited means, their disposable income has risen in recent years. Many such consumers have become more confident about the future, and are now willing to buy aspirational products such as mobile phones and services, even on credit.

To achieve high performance in this environment, companies must understand the key mobile trends as they evolve in developing economies. They must develop a deeper understanding of the mobile value proposition to emergingmarket consumers as well as their distinctive service needs. New distribution networks must be created. Content, products and services need to be tailored to local populations. These challenges will require new models of collaboration to succeed in a more complex ecosystem.

In 2009, Accenture conducted a research study into the future of mobile industry expansion in rural India. We explored the views of rural consumers—both current customers and non-users—and also interviewed senior-level executives from companies that occupy strategic positions across the mobile telephony ecosystem. The key objective of this research was to understand the value proposition of mobile services to rural customers, and also to see how the
potential to serve rural markets is making mobile network operators re-think key elements of their existing business models.

This first phase of this research consisted of 15 in-depth, hour-long telephone or in-person interviews completed in June and July 2009 with executives in India representing mobile operators, handset manufacturers, passive and active telecom infrastructure providers, technology enablers/application providers, and content developers and aggregators. Additionally, in association with an independent research company, Accenture conducted an exploratory qualitative study using a focus group discussion methodology. The focus group invitees included primary wage earners, homemakers and students from rural areas.

For the second phase of the Accenture research, more than 2,400 rural citizens in India were surveyed—802 current mobile customers and 1,634 non-users— to gain a broader understanding of what customers value most in mobile devices and services. The insights drawn from this research can help mobile network operators evolve their business models, and can support more effective design of profitable packages for rural consumers

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.