Upside Down - Emerging Markets change the world

Grown up in Europe? Then your fixed line phone was the old, uncool thing. Fixed. Always had it. Eventually the copper lines got a bit cooler when DSL showed its face, and we got High Speed Internet at Home (you bought into "fiber to your home is it" story a few years back? Too bad, ADSL over copper was the name of the game). Mobile phones where the new thing - and luxury. Mobility was more expensive. Fixed line for the poor, Mobile for the rich. And despite Mobile telephony becoming a mass phenomenon, it is still the more expensive way to communicate, voice and data.

Growing up in India? The world turns upside down. Its all about volume - providing communications to over a billion people. Many can now afford mobile phones, and the masses are being connected to the world via wireless services. If you are rich and want to be cool - then you get a land line. Because you can afford it that someone actually strings some copper wires to your house and connects them. A country grows into mass communication in the wireless enabled time - and the question becomes how to provide volume voice services to the millions joining your network every month. And the old wire becomes the luxury only few afford.

Emerging markets (like India, China, Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa) pose very different challenges than "mature and saturated" Markets (like Europe and the US) - this is extreme in mobile communications. Emerging Markets also have the biggest business oppertunity for those that get it right.

Realizing this, Vodafone recently adapted their organization and strategy (document and presentation) to reflect this.

I had not been to the middle east before this Winter. As everyone, I had a picture in my mind when I was flying to Dubai, UAE. It proved to be wrong. This place is amazing - I hear 25% of the worlds large cranes are here, used for the crazy construction going on. Everything is being build. Whole towns - the famous "The Palm" and "The World" (in case you always wanted to own a mini-version e.g. of Germany) artificial islands, the Burj al Arab Hotel (hey, thats a few years old, it's getting surpassed by something even grander being built nearby). So much money being spent to total luxury, on business and oil infused growth.


They could easily go for tourism as well - great Beaches and all. But here it is about enabling growth and lifestyle in a money-infested environment. Why would anyone string copper lines in such an area? That just seems too slow. Waiting for a line to be strung to your construction site? When that is ready you should already be finishing the building, not start with it.

Vodafone has a great little fixed-line replacement box - just plug in your old land-line phone, fax, and computer and all your internet, phone and fax traffic now flow to the box and then on over the air. Just power required, and you can have your office set up anywhere in the world really, with your home phone numbers, in Minutes. If thats not a great thing for a place breeding construction sites like no other! Fixed line - in Dubai I think thats just too slow to keep up with life. We will be in Cairo next week - another of those places where Sun and Vodafone make a lot happen. We will let you know when we get back.

Thats why we need to go to places to do business - you won't understand the challenges if you have not seen it live.
Talk to you soon,
Olaf
Posted by mobiletechnology ( Jul 05 2006, 06:45:55 PM CEST ) Permalink