1. Mobile technology – a tool for wider equality?
Mobile technologies have brought possibilities to solve problems and develop services in
the everyday lives of people in developing countries.
Mobile communication technologies have, since the very early stages of their
development, had great expectations put on them. Mobile telephony, especially, has
been seen as a “silver bullet” for shooting down many of the problems people in
developing countries face on a day-to-day basis.
Education, economic growth, health and social isolation have all been targets of mobile
projects, some more successful than others. Perfect they are not, but the problems
specific to mobile technology itself are tiny in the grand scheme of societal development.
Sinikka Sassi, professor at the University of Helsinki says that the sort of global
technologies that mobile technologies are will “change our everyday life in a similar way
no matter where we live.”
Health and education over the distance
Mobile technologies have enabled developing countries to ‘leapfrog’ certain technological
and infrastructural steps, the most obvious being the arduous task of building roads and
landlines to rural areas.
Networking remote areas wirelessly does hasten the bridging of the global digital divide,
as evidenced by the fact that there are now more mobile connections than landlines in
the developing world. Business relies on mobile technology, but what other ways are
there of utilizing its distance-eliminating qualities?
Telemedicine or telehealth, for one, is beginning to be an integral part of everyday life in
remote areas, and not only in developing countries. Consultation with doctors and
clinical care can be offered remotely through mobile phones, email or even video
conferencing - but more and more telehealth projects focus on preventive care and
monitoring patients' everyday procedures and life.
Unicef considers mobile phones as the primary devices for exchanging information about
hiv/aids in places like South Africa where over 70 per cent of the population has a mobile
phone. It is also important to note that age and gender are not significant factors in
mobile phone ownership, which allows for private information exchange.
The mobile phone and the Internet have had a great effect on the principles of
economics, in both the developed and developing world. In fact, such a division might

2. soon become obsolete - not because mobile technologies level the playing field
significantly, but because they allow the workforce to flow effortlessly from place to
place. As more and more professions become less geographically bound, so will
inevitably the global workforce be scattered more equally worldwide.
There are examples from around the world that praise the intellectual power of the
Internet and applaud mobile phones as a tool for learning. No doubt, the possibilities are
endless, but they are only now being realized in ways meaningful for everyday life.
One of the most innovative projects in the past years has been the MILLEE (Mobile and
Immersive Learning for Literacy in Emerging Economies) which focuses on improving
literacy rates through educational games on mobile platforms. The MILLEE project has
had success in demonstrating a much-needed practical way of using mobile phones to
advance educational standards.
The more traditionally discussed effect of mobile phones to the economic life of
developing countries is the ability of traders to have real-time information on the prices
of crops, goods and raw materials. Farmers and fishers benefit from weather reports, the
unemployed from job-listings.
Business in many senses
Mobile phones are thus no longer a luxury, but a necessity for survival in a capitalist
society. In developing countries, the competition can be even more fierce as there are
often no viable safety networks provided by the government. Sassi reminds, however,
that in our Westernized and individualistic culture we sometimes lack the imaginative
skills that one must possess when facing scarcer resources.
Indeed, to make something out of nothing is what mobile technologies can enable, by
giving their operators more freedom to act in their localities. Supporting such mobile
applications is therefore highly important, in the long term. Often, the process is too
short and the applications become obsolete.
− We need to develop tools and applications that are socially and culturally more
carefully planned than they are now, says Sassi.
The International Telecommunication Union estimates that nearly half of everyone in
low- and middle income countries has not only access but own and operate a mobile
phone. Microfinancing through SMS and mobile banking has become the norm in many
developing countries. Mobile technologies have to some extent also enabled the de-
monopolization of the finance sector in those places where competition used to be non-

3. existent. In fact, smaller operating costs and less initial capital needed have opened the
markets in many sectors.
The real winners, however, have been the transnational telecommunications companies
and mobile phone manufacturers who nowadays make most of their profits in developing
markets. Already in 2006 did the amount of mobile phones in developing countries
surpass that of high-income countries – and the projections continue in ascending
trends.
Although reduced in price over the years, mobile phones are not exactly free, especially
when compared to more traditional media such as books. There is also the durability
issue of mobile phones. Is it reasonable to assume that electronic media will have a
practical lifespan in rural conditions?
In July, India's government unveiled their answer for bridging the digital divide: a tablet
computer that would be sold for $35 or possibly even less. This is exactly what
developing countries need to do - not rely on transnational corporations for technology
but force them to offer viable mobile solutions by offering their own options. After all,
the roots of the problems in most developing counties go far deeper than any single
technology can penetrate and help mend.
Text: Antero Sivonen