Mobile Operators Seen as Failing in Value-Added Services in Africa
LONDON -- Access to mobile communications won’t bridge the digital divide in developing economies, several participants said Monday at the Chatham House/International Institute of Communications conference. Operators such as Vodafone invest in African networks up and get them running - - but then return to Europe to finance newly emerging technologies, leaving Africans with only basic services, Cagney Casimire, deputy chairman of the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, said in an interview. Vodafone, however, said “dramatic” evidence shows the benefits to developing nations of mobile access.
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Mobile networks put pressure on governments to release spectrum for the public good, said Paul Donovan, Vodafone U.K. chief executive officer for Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and Affiliates. Evidence suggests they bring other social benefits, such as connecting people with their families, improving public involvement in government, and spreading information on natural disasters, HIV/AIDS and the like, he said. Government and industry must work together to close the gap in developing countries, Donovan said. They're just at the beginning of figuring out how to build mobile markets, he said.
In the past two years, the number of mobile subscribers has soared to more than three billion, said David Gross, U.S. State Department coordinator for international communications and information policy. In India, seven to eight million subscribers are added monthly, and China, which had about 85 million subscribers in 2000 now has 515 million, he said. Africa, with a population of 900 million, is the region with the fastest growth in mobile phones and wireless applications, Gross said. Iraq, which had no cellphones under Saddam Hussein, today has 10.5 million subscribers and the government recently auctioned three licenses for $1.25 billion each to regional players, he said.
Mobile adoption results from reduced costs, people’s strong desire to talk to each other, spectrum liberalization and regulatory changes, among other considerations, Gross said. People are using mobile phones and the Internet to connect with their communities and families, and there are social and economic effects. He cited fishermen who call markets on their phones to find out where their catches will get the best prices, and people in China who receive updates on their phones about weather conditions and planting times.
But Casimire said Africa and other developing countries will always lag behind larger economies because they won’t provide the same rate of return for Vodafone and other operators. Companies are interested in investment only up to a point, he said; they don’t spend the money to provide value-added services such as weather updates or market reports. Service providers must recognize that once they create a public-private partnership, it’s for life, Casimire said. For Africans, mobile content must be more than “ring tones and games,” he said.
African countries are trying to end their fragmented approach to telecommunications regulation by harmonizing policies and regulations using the EU model, said John Tandoh, chief executive officer of the Ghana Communication Research and Development Consultancy.
European and U.S. business models won’t work in developing countries, said John Frieslaar, Huawei chief technology officer, key accounts, who is South African. There, governments must step in or the digital divide will never close, he said in an interview. Mobile networks aren’t closing the gap, because they don’t educate children or provide a rich content experience, he said. The question is whether regulation is being handled correctly in developing countries, he said. How do you get to the point where you can invest in fishing rods rather than just giving people the fish, he asked.