“Work-around” solutions for rural areas

My online research led to a lot of examples where rural and remote areas and emerging markets are using innovative approaches to “work around” the lack of fixed-line broadband services and to fully benefit from the digital economy. It seems that such solutions can bring a competitive advantage of rural areas in the information age.

One way is the use of mobile data, which according to the Digital economy rankings 2010 (http://graphics.eiu.com/upload/EIU_Digital_economy_rankings_2010_FINAL_WEB.pdf) is becoming an important mode of broadband access and in emerging markets smartphones are increasingly used as a primary form of connecting to the internet. In Jakarta, for example, one-third of the inhabitants have a BlackBerry and Jakartans are among the world’s leading citizens in use of text messaging and mobile Facebook, largely because they lack fixed-line broadband services. What started as a technology “work-around” is now evolving to make full use of the digital economy. Currently online journalists and bloggers are thriving, using smartphones to report and publish, which led to a strong growth of mobile advertising spending. In addition, Jakarta now has a strong community of mobile application development entrepreneurs that source work globally. (http://graphics.eiu.com/upload/EIU_Digital_economy_rankings_2010_FINAL_WEB.pdf).

Another example is an innovative e-commerce platform put in place in Chinese rural areas, linking rural consumers and urban business (http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/news-events/press-room/press-releases/online-shopping-opens-new-doors-for-villagers-and-retailers-in). The e-commerce solution is an integrated end-to-end service, which contains an online Catalogue Sales Platform (CSP), on which urban businesses can upload their products for marketing to rural customers. The service is delivered to villagers through local entrepreneurs, who provide shared internet access to the online shopping platform.

The success of IT outsourcing in India, Brazil, as well as in Bulgaria, has also been a proof that these countries compensate lower connectivity levels with digitally innovative business. In fact, according to the Digital economy rankings 2010 (http://graphics.eiu.com/upload/EIU_Digital_economy_rankings_2010_FINAL_WEB.pdf), innovative digital practices and applications are put into practice in the rural and emerging markets faster than in the developed world.

With the increased usage of mobile data tools and services, especially in the rural and emerging markets, interoperability, which is defined as being able to accomplish end-user applications using different types of computer systems, operating systems, and application software, interconnected by different types of local and wide area networks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interoperability), becomes a pressing issue. It is not a surprise that the EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes puts interoperability at the heart of the Digital Agenda for Europe (http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/kroes-interoperability-heart-digital-agenda-interview-495525).