Qualcomm

China is the world's largest cellular market with a total of 502 million mobile subscribers reported in June 2007 by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII). However, the difference in wealth and wireless connectivity between the eastern coastal cities and the western countryside in China remains significant. According to MII reports, China's mobile phone penetration is just under 40 percent, though it is as high as 90 percent in some urban areas. The following Wireless Reach project aims to harness advanced wireless technology to positively contribute to the long-term development and sustainability of underserved communities in three of the country's western provinces: Shaanxi, Guizhou and Ningxia.

In collaboration with China Unicom and the international non-governmental organization, PlaNet Finance, Qualcomm donated 2,000 CDMA2000 handsets that were pre-charged with a monthly service voucher (good for up to two years) donated by China Unicom. The handsets were given to PlaNet Finance's network of microfinance workers and loan recipients. The initiative improves successful PlaNet Finance programs by providing the benefits of mobile communications to entrepreneurs.

The handset recipients are microfinance loan officers or borrowers who have successful track records and regularly participate in PlaNet Finance's training programs. China Unicom's service voucher includes a weekly SMS, which enables PlaNet Finance to provide key price and loan information to its microfinance partners and recipients. The CDMA2000 handset donation helps drive the recipients' access to markets, prevents wasted journeys and makes it easier to receive microfinance loans.

Through the Wireless Reach program, Qualcomm and China Unicom support China's overall development goals articulated by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao at the National People's Congress in March 2006.

PARTNERS

• China Unicom
• PlaNet Finance

India’s population is roughly 1.1 billion people and more than half of the workforce is in agriculture.1 According to the Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP), most of the agricultural population lives in rural areas with minimal access to market information. To help support the agriculture industry and reach the rural population, Wireless Reach engaged in a pilot project with ISAP and United Villages Networks to develop vBay, a BREW-enabled mobile classifieds application for rural agri-entrepreneurs to be deployed in the villages of Orissa and Rajasthan.

Providing a convenient online hub for market, product and service information on mobile phones, vBay will offer entrepreneurs in rural communities the ability to post and browse across a network of villages and improve their productivity by providing daily commodity price updates in addition to job postings. This is rural India’s first mobile-enabled classified system designed to empower entrepreneurs by broadening their access to market information. Training for entrepreneurs is also part of the project, helping them to successfully grow their businesses while using the vBay system.

1 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html.

PARTNER

• Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals
• United Villages Networks

For the last three years, Wireless Reach and the Grameen Foundation have collaborated with Indonesian organizations to evaluate, test and build the foundation for a Village Phone Microfranchising Program in the country. The initiative combines the power of microfinance with the benefits of expanding access to communications, generating broad positive economic and social returns that can bolster an entire community.

Village Phone helps Indonesians in two important ways: (1) by extending affordable telecommunication access to people who cannot afford their own mobile device and (2) by offering a profitable business opportunity to the base of the pyramid* by eliminating barriers to entry: primarily in the areas of financing, confidence building, training and access to the supply chain and relevant applications and services designed to be sold by the poor within the communities. The project demonstrates an innovative and sustainable solution that meets the growing demand for affordable access to information and communication technologies and services through a microfranchise model that is market-oriented and builds on the strength of microfinance, a leading poverty alleviation strategy. The core concept is simple, effective and sustainable: a local small-business entrepreneur purchases a pre-packaged kit that includes a mobile phone with a microfinance loan and then re-sells the “airtime minutes” to neighbors. The mobile phone will then serve as a platform to provide additional applications and services to further increase their revenues and margins.

As of February 2010, the Village Phone Microfranchising Program has 1,611 Village Phone Operators (VPOs) and 100 percent of them are profitable. VPOs report that their average weekly profit is approximately US $3.00 – increasing their household income about 20 percent. Currently, 93 percent of VPOs are run by women with 68 percent of them living below the World Bank’s definition of the poverty line, which is US $2.50 per day.

*In economics, the base of the pyramid is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group. In global terms, this is the 2.5 billion people who live on less than US $2.50 per day according to the book, “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid” at Warton Publishing.

PARTNERS

• Bakrie Telecom
• Grameen Foundation
• PT Ruma

Wireless Reach has collaborated with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Dialog Telekom PLC and Synergy Strategies Group on a project to support small businesses in rural Sri Lanka, as well as connect Sri Lankans to the rest of the world with high-speed Internet access. The project partners recruited local entrepreneurs to run Internet tele-centers throughout the country called Easy Seva. The entrepreneurs were offered a microfinance loan to fund startup costs, which are relatively low due to a highly standardized, bulk-purchase package of equipment, software, content and services. Owners receive hardware, IT and business training and Internet connectivity via Dialog’s HSDPA network. At the end of the three year loan period, each entrepreneur is expected to own their Easy Seva center.

PARTNERS

• Dialog Telekom PLC
• National Development Bank
• Synergy Strategies Group
• United States Agency for International Development

In 2009, Wireless Reach with the GSMA Development Fund and Vodacom Tanzania announced a project that would bring local entrepreneurs a new business opportunity and a much needed resource to three communities throughout northern, central and eastern Tanzania – access to high-speed wireless Internet connectivity. Entrepreneurs take out a microfinance loan to purchase the cafes, which are housed in converted shipping containers, an environmentally friendly and affordable resource. Other Vodacom products and services are also available including: airtime vouchers, payphone calls, handset recharging services and Vodacom’s M-PESA mobile money transfer service.

Vodacom approached the pilot with the goal of ensuring that the cafes were profitable for the local entrepreneurs who would run them. The partners chose the communities of Dar-es-Salaam, Dodoma and Arusha to test the project design and concept. These communities are diverse and aided Vodacom in testing the sustainability and profitability of the business in various locations. There is positive consensus among the three cafe owners that the strength of their business is the high-speed wireless Internet connectivity on Vodacom’s HSPA network. Vodacom found the initial pilot successful and is expanding it to include ten additional cafes throughout Tanzania.

PARTNER

• GSMA Development Fund
• Vodacom Tanzania