“The mobile will be like Aladdin’s lamp. It can give you whatever you wish.. “ Nobel Laureate Muhammed Yunus =

Not quite there yet, but...  Sense of security in an increasingly insecure world  Allows for coordination of everyday activities  Allows the making of money and saving of costs  Allows fragmented families to keep in touch  Management of contact information  Scheduler  Clock  Alarm  Entertainment center  Messaging device  Calculator  Camera  Method of participation  Payment device  Map and direction giver  Disaster warning device  Agri-productivity enhancer  Game device  Device for learning about roads...  Etc.....  “Mobile 2.0”

How the mobile has changed our world...  Example of e Sri Lanka, designed in Development and delivery of e gov services at core (to lay groundwork for e commerce, etc.)  Telecenters for public access Government call center also  Unsolved problem: e payments in a society with few credit cards  If I designed it today... Would switch focus  Government call center in foreground  Telecenters as niche, added-value product Mobile for e-payments

in operation

Access is surprisingly high at BOP  familiarity South AsiaSouth East Asia PakistanIndiaSri Lanka Philippine s Thailand Used phone in last 3 months 98%94%92%93%95%  Most people approached for survey (BOP and other) in mid had used a phone in the last 3 months “Half the world’s population has not made a phone call” was wrong when Kofi Annan said it in 1999; absolutely wrong now

Ownership is not as high at BOP  Especially in South Asia…

Primary access modes among BOP phone users Except in India, combined BOP household use > BOP public phone use

South Asia South-east Asia PakistanIndiaSri LankaPhilippinesThailand % of non-owners who plan to get connected between mid and mid %38%53%42%38% Mobile access is high … and growing

But lowest preference in Sri Lanka even in 2006  Because Sri Lanka is the only country that charges for incoming calls The government of Sri Lanka cares more about the less than a million people who had fixed phones than the multiple millions who have mobiles

End 2007, 8 million mobile users compared to less than 3 million fixed (mostly CDMA) Source: Telecom Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka Fixed and mobile telephone growth in Sri Lanka, When Tilak Ranaviraja scuttled CPP CDMA growth

Could be even less because of the Irisiya badu  In 2004, the government took an additional LKR 20 on top of every LKR 100 that we spent on mobile calls With the “environmental levy” it will take LKR 31.8 in taxes (an increase of over 50%) At some point, this vindictive taxation has to affect mobile use

But the good news is...  The government will not tax this game when you’re playing it Only when you connect with the server to report your results