india mobile

INDIAThe First Truly Mobile Digital Society?

Intro

Two Indias

Mobile SocietyJustDialMicro-TelecomZERO & Micro-FinanceUniversal ID Number

Conclusion

ReferencesDisclaimer

For the next 20-25 years, India’s economy will grow faster than any other large country.

“Rapid growth in a country of 1.2 billion people is exciting, to put it mildly.”

The Economist

Flickr image by realmolimo

India is a land full of contrast.

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Over 250 million people live below the poverty line in urban slums and rural areas largely untouched by infrastructure.

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Yet, of the global top 20 places to outsource Research and Development, India dominates with 6.

Karnataka • Haryana • ChennaiHyderabad • Mumbai • Kolkata

Flickr image by vis-a-vis

India has the fourth largest population of Internet users, but has only 7% penetration.

“Wait till Indians really combine their love of the cellphone with social media. Then, Facebook, Twitter, etc, will really explode.”

Professor Sreenivasan, Columbia University

Facebook is moving quickly to capitalize on expected future growth of 500% by 2015. For

one rupee (2 cents) a day, users can get unlimited Facebook use.

With a geographically dispersed and poor population, could India skip the costly widespread adoption of broadband access - and even PCs all together?

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All the elements are in place.

“The cost of network access and handsets is going down, wireless networks are going up, and Indian consumers already display an insatiable appetite for digital services.”

ACCORDING TO MCKINSEY,

What would a truly mobile society look like?

Don’t think too long,

Indian entrepreneurs are quickly shaping it.

Already, India’s largest search engine, JustDial, takes close to 100 million calls a year. Many users have never tried a computer.

People think of something they are looking for--a phone number, a restaurant, a category like "doctor"--and call Justdial as automatically as someone online would enter a word in Google.

JustDial is being exported...to North America to compete with 411.

Call centres are being returned to North America...by India.

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Cellphones equipped with voice recognition or simple commands could do even more for

India’s 39% illiterate population.

Flickr image by Dipanker Dutta

VNL is bringing “micro-telecom” to rural communities through its solar powered WorldGSM system.

Of the 11-20 million subscribers being added every month in India, VNL saw that rural users at the “bottom of the Pyramid“ made up less than 20%.

www.vnl.in/technology/

Of course, telecom is the not the only thing the poor are lacking.

60% of the population lack formal banking services.

A Little World (ALW) and its sister non-profit ZERO Microfinance connect financial and government services to rural populations.

The ZERO platform turns a smart phone, lockbox, and fingerprint/eye scanner into a

portable bank branch.

ALW is working with the government to connect more microcredit organizations as well as mainstream banking institutions to

remote communities through smart phones.

The government is doing its part by implementing a nation-wide Universal ID number program.

This, combined with fingerprint/eye scanners and mobile authentication will enable eHealthcare and ePayments.

Image from A Little World.com

The main beneficiaries will be the disadvantaged population who are currently outside the formal sector. Properly identified, more people will receive their rightful government services as well as insurance.

Flickr image by Ulila

India faces many challenges ahead...

...but it has an unparalleled entrepreneurial spirit.

Their innovative models may soon be leading the world in all things “mobile”

Flickr image by juicyrai

REFERENCESSlide 3 – The Economist, http://www.economist.com/node/17145035Slide 6– CIA World Factbook India

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.htmlSlide 7– McKinsey Quarterly – R&D strategies in emerging marketsSlide 8-

http://itpopular.com/india-4th-top-country-worlds-highest-internet-usage/Slide 9- http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/18/facebook_india/Slide 11– McKinsey Quarterly – Can India lead the mobile-Internet revolutionSlide 13- http://www.fastcompany.com/1725661/indias-mighty-microeconomySlide 14-

http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/22/can-india%E2%80%99s-justdial-make-it-in-the-us/

Slide 15– CIA World Factbook IndiaSlide 16 - http://www.vnl.in/ Slide 17 - http://www.fastcompany.com/1725661/indias-mighty-microeconomySlide 18 - http://growinginclusivemarkets.org/media/cases/India_ALW_2010.pdfSlide 19 -

http://www.fastcompany.com/mic/2010/industry/most-innovative-india-companies

Slide 21 – McKinsey Quarterly – Can India lead the mobile-Internet revolution

DISCLAIMER

I welcome any educational comments and/or enlightening criticisms.

I have never been to India, nor do I have any matter of expertise in the area of mobile communications.

I chose this subject for my project simply to educate myself.

- George Dylan Carr