Mobile Impact!

Firstly, thanks for comments on my first article. Apologies for the late response to those that sent private message and e-mails with comments or questions - I will try to reply to all.

A year from now, in 2020, I will celebrate a very special anniversary. It is the celebration of a relationship that has lasted 25 years and that I daily spend considerable amount of time on. Sometimes too much I must also admit.

Our relationship started out like most friendships; by just talking. As our friendship evolved I started to entrust more and more of my professional and private life to this friend. I have come to the conclusion that whether it is financial, health, food, entertainment or transportation needs this friend delivers conveniently and efficiently - always (with some exceptions). On any day it often saves me from both trouble and boredom. We have shared happy moments but also episodes of frustration and sadness. Our relationship has positively impacted the people around me and helps me to stay in touch with family and friends and allows me to further my learning and career. It helps me lead a more social life and often makes my life richer.

I can still remember the day when I met this friend. It was in the spring of 1995 in a shop at Grunerl?kka in Oslo, Norway. Who am I talking about you might ask? My mobile phone of course! My Motorola 5200 (TAC). Since that day there have been many versions and I can without hesitation say that it has become both better looking and smarter over the years. 

‘The Mobile Effect’

I am certainly not alone in sharing this special relationship with my mobile device. In the last two decades, investments in mobile communications networks have delivered what the fixed line never did; voice and internet services to all. Today; more than 5 billion people around the world are connected by a mobile network and the mobile device has become an integral part of life. As more citizen become connected and join the mobile 'revolution', mobile technology has become an effective mechanism to deliver innovative services and solve some of the most difficult economic and societal challenges in the world.

The impact of the mobile phone can be felt in all corners of the world. There is not a single area of economic life which is not affected by mobile connectivity. As enterprises, governments and consumers continue to find new, innovative ways to leverage mobile communications technology for public services, business and our personal lives, the impact will continue to be profound. With the emergence of industrial internet, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 5G, this effect this will accelerate. GSMA estimates that by 2020, close to 30 billion objects will be connected leading to new areas for innovation.   

At Telenor, we have for years been interested in the socioeconomic effects of connectivity in the countries where we operate. Earlier this year, we commissioned Frontier Economics to conduct an independent study on these impacts in our Asian markets; Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia and Thailand. The report, titled “The Mobile Effect: How Connectivity Enables Growth”, was launched in March and quantified the direct and indirect impact of telecommunications on their economies. Among the many interesting findings, here are some I find especially noteworthy and that is mentioned below.

The critical role of connectivity for economic activity  

Telecommunications providers like Telenor are major growth engines in all economies. Frontiers Economics estimate that in 2017, the telecommunications sector contributed more than USD $15 billion to the economies of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar. On average, this was more than 1% of GDP in each country. Telenor’s contribution alone stood at USD $4.3 billion.

Telecommunications is an important enabler of activity across a wide number of sectors. Indeed, it is almost impossible these days to think of a single sector that does not rely on connectivity services. Communications infrastructure has helped to transform business processes by allowing goods and services to be produced and distributed more efficiently. It has enhanced both the speed and quality of information flow, which has in turn contributed to substantial improvements in business efficiency, access to markets, communication with customers, and overall management of people and processes. Many developing economies have a significant leapfrogging opportunity by deploying effective high-speed mobile connectivity infrastructure allowing for faster and more efficient business formation and entrepreneurship. This translates in to national competitiveness improvement on a large scale in a more analog world. 

The role of connectivity in reducing inequalities

Telecommunications technology – and the internet, in particular – have changed the ways in which we live, work and interact with the people and environment around us. Telecommunications services have created substantial economic benefits for us users and society at large. This, however, tells only part of the story. Telecommunications technology has also contributed to the achievement of a range of social goods which, while difficult to quantify, are no less important for the value they generate for society.

For starters, mobile technologies can play a significant role in improving social inclusion. 

Here is one example: 1.1 billion people in the world today lack an official identity, 366 million of whom are children and of those, around 60 million live in Pakistan. The problem of low birth registration rates in Pakistan is due to a combination of social and economic factors.

In many areas, registering a birth can be difficult, and in some cases nearly impossible – especially for children born at home, in remote locations, or in displacement. The ability to prove one’s identity is crucial to social, political and economic inclusion and enables greater access to basic services such as healthcare and education. It is a child’s passport to protection against underage labour, child marriages and trafficking. It also protects children from being treated as adults in the justice system and helps them reconnect with families in times of conflict and disaster.

Typically, birth registration is a prerequisite to obtaining a birth certificate, which in Pakistan is needed for issuing national identity cards, passports and in some provinces, school enrollment. On the other hand, government also needs birth data to deliver socio-economic services such as health care and new schools.

Telenor Pakistan, together with UNICEF and the Governments of Punjab and Sindh provinces, believes that the increased adoption of mobile phones in Pakistan could offer a solution to increase the number of birth registrations. In 2014, a first-of-its-kind pilot was launched with a simple solution. An app developed by Telenor Pakistan was put into the hands of authorised personnel, including health workers, marriage registrars and at Telenor distribution points. For the first time in Pakistan, a private telecommunications company is offering government services at their touchpoints.

The health workers and marriage registrars move from house to house as part of their regular responsibilities while Telenor concurrently offers the birth registration facility at targeted areas. These authorised personnel send birth-related data, along with the required documentation, to the approving authority directly via the app. Supervisors review and approve the birth registration forms and monitor the progress of the project through a specially designed dashboard. The pilot phase resulted in an increase in birth registration from 30% to 90% in just six months, and nearly 50% of the registered children were girls. To date, Digital Birth Registration has been launched in four districts within Sindh and three districts of Punjab. More than 600,000 children have been registered, and the ambition is to register more than 1.1 million children in total by the end of 2019.

The potential for information and telecommunications uses in the advancement of a wide range of social objectives has been acknowledged by many stakeholders over the last years.

If mobile connectivity today can be part of the solutions to large global problems as described above, just imagine what it can do when everyone and everything is connected!

These views are my own. The input to this article can be found in the Frontier Economics report developed for Telenor Group.