Nokia aims to connect the poor

By Staff Writer for Nokia
Johannesburg, 20 May 2009

Nokia will release three new handsets in emerging markets to increase Internet connectivity. The handset maker estimates five billion people will be connected across developed and emerging markets by 2015.

A Nokia statement says the handsets will connect to the Internet using 3G, GPRS and Edge technologies and host several applications built for emerging markets. The phones will be priced between 55 euros (R634) and 90 euros (R1 038) each, before subsidies and taxes. The handset maker says this is the cheapest price at which Internet-ready phones can be retailed.

Nokia has found that half of its emerging market customers would rather connect to the Internet using mobile phones, as opposed to computers.

The International Telecommunications Union says the number of subscribers, around the world, using mobile Internet services will rise from 577 million in 2007 to more than 1.7 billion by 2013, while PC Internet users will rise to two billion during the same period.

“The power of the Internet is undeniable,” says Nokia VP Alex Lambeek. “We've seen mobile technologies catalyse the growth of the informal sector across the world, empowering local entrepreneurs, and having an immediate and lasting impact on people's lives.”

Nokia Life Tools and Ovi Mail are two of the applications which will come standard with the low-cost phones. The company describes Life Tools as a range of agricultural and educational information services. Ovi Mail is an e-mail account, which can be used on a Nokia device without having to be synchronised with a PC.

Good and bad

A report from Frost & Sullivan says the large demand for connectivity in Africa will see the mobile Internet market rise between 40% and 50%, in the period between 2009 and 2010.

The research firm says the steady growth in cellular services and the migration from 2G to 3G technologies will ensure the perfect platform for the deployment of mobile Internet services.

"The poor state of fixed-line infrastructure is creating the potential for the African mobile Internet market to boom," says Frost & Sullivan research analyst Spiwe Chireka. "Mobile internet has emerged as the solution to the continent's last-mile connectivity problem."

Yet Frost & Sullivan says there are a number of hurdles to mobile Internet uptake. Among the challenges is the high cost of mobile Internet compatible handsets, coupled with the pricing structure, which would make the technology too expensive for the majority of Africa's population.

In addition, poor infrastructure development in some countries makes it difficult for some operators to deploy mobile Internet services because of a lack of reliable electricity and inadequate road networks.

Chireka says the solution would be for mobile Internet service providers to form partnerships with cellular companies, as well as technology and infrastructure providers, so they can offer good quality service on cheaper handsets.