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Mobile Technologies for Livelihoods

13th – 14th January 2011

Mwamba Mutale - IT Consultant

Prepared with

Gaël Hernández – Capacity Development

Officer IICD

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Workshop objectives

• To explore the potential of mobile technologies for livelihoods sector.

• To become familiar with existing solutions, such as FrontlineSMS, through practical demonstrations of its functionality and requirements.

• To identify potential uses within the organizations and explore the requirements from both technical and financial side.

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Working definitions

• Mobile technologies: set of technologies and applications able to provide a service to users that are not fixed in a particular location.

• Mobile devices: set of terminals allowing mobility such as phones, smartphones and netbooks.

• Mobile providers: companies that operate mobile networks, such as Airtel, Orange and MTN.

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Why mobile?

• Coverage: mobile networks are getting there where nobody gets.

• Cost (user side): there is a full range of devices starting at very low cost (10$).

• Cost (provider side): competition among mobile providers should bring voice/SMS/GPRS costs down.

• Integration: mobile technologies can be integrated with existing ICT solutions (databases, websites, etc)

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Why livelihoods?

• Reaching individuals to improve their livelihood.• Agricultural information, Money Transfer,

Election outcome Monitoring plus many more applications have already been developed using SMS platform.

• Economic development, Youth & Employment.• Why not?

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The Mobile Equation

Mobile Tech =

SMS + GPRS + Voice +

ICT Integration

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Technology vs. Device

SMS

GPRS3G

VOICE

Phone

Smartphone

Netbook

ICTIntegration

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SMS

• Short Messages System• Unexpected GSM killer application• Up to 160 characters are send to any mobile

number worldwide (compatibility)• No language restrictions• Receiving SMS is free of charge• Works on ANY phone

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GPRS/3G

• GPRS - General Packet Radio Service• Low-speed data connection for GSM system

(slower than dial-up 56Kbps)• Access to the internet, web, email, etc.

• 3G – new data architecture for mobile systems• Allows higher speeds than GPRS• Now available in most African Countries

• Only available on medium to high profile phones

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Voice

• The old and good voice• Best and most natural way of

information delivery• I.V.R. systems = interactive

voice response systems (voice menus)

• Voice is not dependent on ICT literacy

• Unlike SMS, Technologies employed to develop voice based applications are not cheap

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ICT Integration

• ICT components can collaborate and be integrated into a larger solution– SMS technology is used in the last mile to query a

database and deliver the answer.– GPRS/3G provides a data connection that can connect to

web based services (the database on the example above).– Voice systems are more complex to integrate due to its

nature.

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Which solutions?

• FrontlineSMS: freeware software that allows you to manage contacts and create SMS-based applications with only a phone/modem attached to a computer.

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Anything to worry about?

• Business model: SMS, GPRS and voice calls are not free (unless you’ve got a deal with mobile providers!!)

• Investment vs. real impact: mobile services should be monitored so the real impact can be analysed.

• Technical know-how: who can take care of the technical stuff?– DIY – Do it yourself philosophy– Outsourcing – Someone else takes care of it

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FrontlineSMS (I)

• Technical requirements– Compatible phone or GSM modem– FrontlineSMS running on a laptop/desktop computer

• What does FrontlineSMS do?– Contacts/groups manager– Allows you to create applications based on actions

triggered by keywords received in the SMS• Join/leave group• Autoreply SMS• Broadcast SMS• Advanced actions (execute external command, HTTP request,

etc).

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FrontlineSMS (II)

FrontlineSMS Mobile user

8880, “JOIN-AGRI”

“Welcome to the agriculture SMS

forum. Get ready for receiving info!”

Seasonal tip: xxxxxxxxx

Upcoming meeting: xxxxxxxxx

8880, “LEAVE-AGRI”

“Thanks for using our service. See you

soon!”

A new user register sending an SMS to

8880 with the keyword JOIN-AGRI

The registered used receives a

welcome SMS with the confirmation

Broadcast SMS are received by the

user on different topics

The user unsubscribes sending

LEAVE-AGRI to 8880

A confirmation is sent by the system

The user is registered in the

group AGRI. Predefined

confirmation SMS is sent

The user is unregistered

from the group AGRI.

Predefined confirmation

SMS is sent

Broadcast SMS are sent

according to the service

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FrontlineSMS (III)

• Business model– Cost calculations for a three weeks service targeting 65

people and two broadcast SMS each week.

– W1=25, W2=50, W3=65– # SMS (W) = ΔW*WB + W*(B+QA)

• WB = Welcome & Bye SMS• B = Broadcast SMS• QA = Question&Anwser SMS

– # Total SMS = 815 SMS

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Conclusions

• Opportunities: mobile technologies bring opportunities (voice, SMS, data connections) to reach almost every farmer, youth, extension officer, teacher...

• Do It Yourself: there are solutions available that need technical know-how to be deployed and maintained.

• Business solutions: operators and companies can help organizations to analyse their needs (user requirements) and propose a solution (system design + costing): iConnect, Airtel, Celmak Solutions, etc.

• Costs vs. Impact: monitor the system and find out how useful it is!

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Any questions???

Thanks!

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Some GSM Terms

• Radio Network Controller (or RNC)• Home Location Register (HLR)• Visitor Location Register (VLR)• Equipment Identity Register (EIR)• Authentication Center (AuC)• SMS Serving Center (SMS SC)• Gateway MSC (GMSC)• Chargeback Center (CBC)• Transcoder and Adaptation Unit (TRAU)