GSMA Mobile for Socio-Economic Development Capacity Building 2018

1. Mobile for Socio-
Economic Development
GSMA Capacity Building Oct/Nov 2018
Prepared by: V.R Ramadzhia

2. State of Mobile for Penetration in Sub-
Saharan Africa
 At the end of 2016, there were 420 million unique mobile subscribers in Sub-
Saharan Africa, equivalent to a penetration rate of 43%. The region continues to
grow faster than any other region; the CAGR of 6.1% over the five years to 2020 is
around 50% higher than the global average.
 The region will have more than half a billion unique mobile subscribers by 2020, by
which time around half the population will subscribe to a mobile service. (GSMA
Mobile Economy, 2017)
 In 2018 the mobile penetration is growing at a slower rate Subscriber growth in
Sub-Saharan Africa has slowed in recent years as the industry confronts the
challenges of affordability and a youthful population.
 Growth rates in the region have fallen well below the double digit annual rates
seen in the first half of the decade, and the compound annual growth rate (CAGR)
for the next five years is around half the level recorded over the preceding five
years. (GSMA Mobile Economy, 2018)

3. The impact of Mobile and data
 3G will remain the dominant mobile broadband technology for the
foreseeable future, but 4G adoption is rising rapidly following increasing
network rollout.
 Key factors supporting the growth of smartphone adoption in the region
include the increasing affordability of new devices and a growing market for
second-hand devices.
 mobile technologies and services generated $110 billion of economic value in
Sub-Saharan Africa, equivalent to 7.7% of GDP. Mobile’s contribution to GDP is
expected to rise to $142 billion, equivalent to 8.6% of GDP, by 2020 as
countries benefit from improvements in productivity and efficiency brought
about by increased take-up of mobile services.

4. Key factors for powering Mobile for
socio-economic development
Generational
Demographic
shifts
Mobile
Technology
Innovation
Mobile
Broadband
affordability
Digital
Literacy
Local
Content and
Availability

5. Mobile Internet Acesss
Economic
Growth for
Populations &
Economies
Enhanced
Employment &
Entrepreneurial
Opportunities
Increase Mobile
Internet Access
Improved
Productivity

6. Enhancing Affordability through best
practices Taxation
 Taxation best practice rests on a number of principles that are acknowledged
internationally to minimise the inefficiencies associated with taxation and the
distortive impacts that taxes may have on the wider economy. A balanced
taxation structure for mobile could be based on the following principles:
 1. In general, taxation should be broad-based: Taxation alters incentives for
production and consumption, and so economic distortions will generally be
minimised where the burden of taxation is spread evenly across the economy.
 2. Taxes should account for sector and product externalities: The case for
taxation to address negative externalities (such as those arising from tobacco
consumption) is recognised.

7. Enhancing Affordability through best
practices Taxation (Cont…)
 3. The tax and regulatory system should be simple, easily understandable
and enforceable: Uncertainty and lack of transparency over taxation systems
and liabilities may deter investors and are also likely to increase enforcement
costs for government.
 4. Dynamic incentives for the operators should be unaffected: Taxation
should not disincentivize efficient investment or competition in the ICT
sector.
 5. Finally, it is widely accepted that taxes should be equitable, and that the
burden of taxation should not fall disproportionately on the lower income
members of society. (GSMA Digital Inclusion Mobile Sector Taxation, 2015)

8. Sub-Saharan African (Digital Technology
Context)

9. Government Policy & Regulatory
Framework

10. Mobile for Development – M-Agriculture

11. Mobile for Development – M-Agriculture
(Cont…)
 Agriculture employs 1.34 billion people globally. Smallholder farmers produce and sell nearly
70 per cent of the food consumed worldwide but remain financially excluded and increasingly
vulnerable to changing climate patterns affecting their yields.
 Mobile is uniquely positioned to bridge the information and financial gap in rural areas at
scale. Mobile operators can deliver the critical information farmers need to make better
informed decisions that boost their productivity and profit. Through the digitisation of
agricultural payments, mobile enables currently mostly unbanked smallholder farmers to
access formal financial services. (GSMA, 2018)
 In agriculture, IoT technologies can be used to increase, protect, and optimize crop
production, as well as improve the storage and distribution of food. They are used to gather
and utilize local weather data, a critical aspect of farming,
 Various information-based applications have been developed, including greenhouse remote
monitoring, automatic drip irrigation, and milk source safety information management to
enhance agricultural production. However it remains a major challenge in developing regions
due to limited coverage (Broadband Commission, 2016)

12. Product Development Cycle Model

13. Mobile for Development – Financial
Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa
 In Kenya, entrepreneurs have developed an initiative called BitPesa. It is an online
payment platform aimed at reducing the cost of money transfers from other
countries to Kenya. Its target market was Kenyan citizens who work in the United
Kingdom and at its inception majority of its early customers was young
entrepreneurs between 18 and 35 years of age. The concept was initiated in an
attempt quantify how much money in US Dollar was sent to Kenya for families and
friends. Ndemo, D & Weiss, T. (2017).
 South Africa is experiencing growth in smartphone penetration and mobile app
usage with a Mobile Marketing Association South Africa report showing that 17.7
million of the 37.2 million adult population make use of mobile apps or access the
Internet via their smartphones. The uptake of mobile per capita in South Africa is
among the highest anywhere in the world and, despite security and educational
challenges around the adoption of mobile apps, uptake is increasing. The country
also leads in mobile application downloads in sub-Sahara Africa. (ITU App Economy,
2017).

14. References
 GSMA. (2017). The Mobile Economy (Online). Accessed on 02 November 2018
retrieved from
https://www.gsmaintelligence.com/research/?file=9e927fd6896724e7b26f33f
61db5b9d5&download
 GSMA. (2018). The Mobile Economy (Online). Accessed on 02 November 2018
retrieved from https://www.gsma.com/mobileeconomy/wp-
content/uploads/2018/02/The-Mobile-Economy-Global-2018.pdf
 GSMA (2015). Digital Inclusion Mobile Sector Taxation (Online). Accessed on 02
November 2018 retrieved from
https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-
content/uploads/2015/06/Digital-Inclusion-Mobile-Sector-Taxation-2015.pdf

15. References Cont..
 Ndemo, D & Weiss, T. (2017). To Keep Disrupting, You Have to Listen Closely to
What the Clients Wants. In Rossiello, E. Digital Kenya: An entrepreneurial
Revolution in the Making. London: Palgrave McMillan. Available at
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tim_Weiss/publication/299469062_Di
gital_Kenya_An_Entrepreneurial_Revolution_in_the_Making/links/583e06ca08
aeda6968070c69/Digital-Kenya-An-Entrepreneurial-Revolution-in-the-
Making.pdf
 ITU. (2017). The APP Economy in Africa: ECONOMIC BENEFITS and
REGULATORY DIRECTIONS Report (Online). Accessed on 02 November 2018
retrieved from https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/pref/D-PREF-
EF.APP_ECO_AFRICA-2017-PDF-E.pdf