Secure electronic transaction company Prism, says it is upbeat about the impact cellphone technology offers emerging markets, and believes more effort is needed to place SA innovative products in the global market.
"Wireless telecommunication technology is already having a profound effect by empowering individuals and micro-enterprises in emerging markets. There is instant access to relevant information anywhere and anytime," says Alvin Els, Prism CEO.
An example of the impact is in West Africa, Els says, where self-employed subsistence fishermen use mobile telephony to establish local fish market retail prices well before beaching with their daily catch, and negotiating with wholesalers who will transport the fish.
"Wireless infrastructure, shared-access models and high volume commoditisation of mobile handsets are dramatically reducing the cost of being connected and significantly increasing the proximity and convenience of telecommunication access," he says.
Tele-education, tele-medicine, micro-banking, micro-payments and many other tele-applications will help to accelerate economic development and the establishment of emerging market micro-enterprises and their access to local and world markets, he says.
"More than half of the world`s population has yet to make its first phone call. However, wireless telephony has taken less than 20 years to shift from an expensive and exclusive business tool to a mass market, cost-effective technology, capable of functioning almost anywhere, anytime.
"Once pervasive wireless 2G+ digital telecommunications do exist, the way remote communities function and interact with the rest of their district, country and the globe will forever be altered.
"Over the next five to 10 years, the further emergence and mass market deployment of 3G and 3G+ telecommunication technology will significantly increase the opportunities for richer information access and utilisation in the predominantly poorer population segments of emerging markets," says Els.
Market shifts
"Prism directly participates in the wireless telecommunication sector through its chip card and wireless business units," says Els, which specialise in the development of secure payment software to complete transactions made using a cellphone.
"As countries around the globe shift from cash-based to cashless electronic payments and as magstripe cards are replaced with multi-application chip cards, cellphone technology is simultaneously opening up new opportunities in the mobile payment space.
"Security is core to the enabling and processing of trusted transactions and with the development of the mobile voucherless top-up technology, a vendor will enable the distribution of prepaid cellular airtime, using a standard GSM cellular handset, which means that mobile operators in developing countries can facilitate prepaid recharge for users of their airtime," says Els.
SA Innovation
Prism was recently presented a joint award with Anglo American Technical Division for the Leader in Research and Development category in the 2005 Technology Top 100 (TT100) award ceremony.
"South African technology companies face an uphill battle when developing innovative products and services competitive in the global marketplace, particularly as we compete against technology giants awash with funds and funding," says Els.
"Innovation is constantly undertaken in close collaboration with customers and in working on real systems and solutions. This process has been successful in us mitigating high-risk situations and also ensures that we get to experience our systems working in live environments almost immediately," says Els.
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