Two separate announcements by Nokia & Siemens, when combined together, create a very promising picture for rural economy and rural entrepreneurship.
First, Nokia announced a sub INR2000 phone, with inbuilt features to support mobile PCO operations in villages. Some of these features include time tracking / automatic time linked call ending to enable entrepreneurs to preset a time or cost limit on calls. Since a large section of rural populace can not afford individual phones, this has potential to make mobile community phone ownership (PCO centric model) a realistic dream.
Second, Nokia Siemens announced internet protocol based innovative solution to increase GSM rural coverage. This is how it is proposed to work. A village entrepreneur can take license from established GSM operator and setup a local switching network to route calls within a village. This network can connect to regional hub/GSM hub over IP to provide broader GSM connectivity. So far, high GSM network cost made rural forays economically unviable. This IP based solution is said to have a significant cost advantage over traditional option.
Marriage of these two seemingly unrelated introductions can have tremendous positive impact on rural economy.
It creates a compelling mobile infrastructure that rural entrepreneurs & enabling agencies can use to tap outside markets. For example, micro-finance organizations can use this infrastructure to promote business models beyond basic dairy & food processing to power rural economy.
Far flung villages now have a real shot at becoming next frontiers of value creation and innovation.
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