Mobile Services Could Raise India Farmer Incomes vy $9 Billion a Year

Simple mobile services could improve incomes of 70 million Indian farmers by US$9 billion a year by 2020, estimates a study conducted by Accenture Strategy with support from the Vodafone Foundation.

The study found that six mobile services could enhance earnings by an average of US$128 a year for almost two-thirds of Indian farmers.  

• Agricultural information services can provide early warning of weather events, information on the best times to harvest and advice on crop techniques to enhance yields. These services could increase an estimated 60 million Indian farmers’ annual incomes by an average of US$89 a year in 2020.

• Receipt services can provide greater transparency in daily commodity supply chains, allowing farmers to raise their incomes by improving efficiency and eliminating fraud.

• Payments and loans can provide farmers access to financial products and services using mobile money payment systems such as Vodafone’s M-Pesa. Access to highly cost-effective micro-finance and quick and transparent electronic payment systems could provide an annual benefit of US$690 for some farmers in 2020, representing a 39 percent increase in their average farming income.

• Field audits monitoring quality, sustainability and certification requirements, and using electronic reporting by tablets and mobile data, could increase annual average income by US$612 for some farmers.

• Local supply chains could allow small-scale producers to transact with local co-operatives, boosting some farmers’ annual incomes by US$271 in 2020; a 50 percent increase.

• Smartphone-enabled services could provide deeper functionality and richer sources of information than is possible using basic SMS and voicemail services. Advanced and affordable mobile services could lead to an increase in average annual farming incomes of US$675 for more than four million farmers in 2020.

Vodafone also is sponsoring a Farmers’ Club initiative in four additional emerging market countries: India, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania.

The Vodafone Farmers’ Club is a social business model which offers a range of mobile services to help farmers boost productivity. It was first launched by Vodafone in Turkey in 2009; around 25 per cent of the Turkish population work in agriculture and the Farmers’ Club programme has benefitted 1.2 million farmers, helping them to enhance crop yields and increase farm gate incomes.

Specific Farmers’ Club services offered in each country will vary but will include information services, virtual marketplaces in which farmers can sell their produce and mobile money financial services and products.

Google Play Reduces Game and App Prices In India

The Internet ecosystem, it bears repeating, is loosely coupled. It takes any number of participants, all aligned, to provide high quality of experience, at affordable prices, for everyone.

A robust local access capability won’t do much good if the access domain is impaired, in terms of its connections to all other relevant application domains. LIkewise, even superior long haul connectivity plus excellent local access, plus connections to all relevant content stores, will not have as much value if end user access prices are too high, if devices are expensive and if desired apps are too costly.

So it is that Google Play recently lowered the minimum purchase price for games sold on Google Play in India, from Rs. 50 to Rs. 10.

Developers from India and around the world have decided to reprice their apps for Indian users. Now, you can find many of your favourite apps and games starting from only Rs. 10.

One might argue that is precisely the insight Facebook and others had with the Internet.org initiative, which provides access to useful apps without the requirement for buying a mobile data plan, at least for an introductory period.

In the Philippines and elsewhere, for example, high mobile Internet adoption rates occur within the first 30 days of use of Internet.org zero rated apps, Internet.org says.

In the Philippines, mobile Internet adoption doubled within a year, for example. That’s one example of important app providers and mobile service providers partnering to reduce the cost of sampling use of Internet access.

Thailand is Mobile First

Mobile phone adoption in Thailand shows why some consider Southeast Asia the first “mobile-first” region.

Mobile mobile adoption in Thailand has reached a point the average Thai person has 1.4 mobile phones or accounts, representing 140 percent adoption.

Mobile Internet penetration in Thailand has jumped from a one percent in 2009 to 56 percent in 2013. Perhaps more to the point, Thailand has more mobile phones connected to the Internet than there are Internet users.

LTE and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are a Fit, Verizon Ventures Says

Is there a role for mobile networks in the unmanned aerial vehicle ecosystem? Verizon Ventures believes there is a clear role.

“Wide area wireless technologies, like LTE, have made it possible for drones to transmit vast amounts of data at farther ranges and faster speeds,” says David Famolari, Verizon Ventures director.

A typical UAV flight in a commercial application can generate more than 500 MB of raw visual and sensor data, often from entirely unique perspectives that would have been otherwise unobtainable, Famolari says. “UAVs range too far to rely on Wi-Fi, and transmit too much data to use 3G networks, but LTE solves both the range and capacity challenges, said Famolari.

LTE networks also can be used for UAV command-and-control as well.

Flight coordinates could be delivered over the network to dynamically update flight plans, reroute missions, and clear airspace when necessary, Famolari argues.

LTE connectivity gives UAV operators real-time visibility beyond the line of sight, allowing them to better manage their fleets, track aircraft, and run more efficient operations.

Mobile Money is Among the Most Successful Examples of Mobile Operators "Moving up the Stack"

Since its commercial launch in March 2007, M-PESA, the mobile money service created by Vodafone and Safaricom, has provided one of the more stunning successes of the “move up the value chain” strategy in the whole mobile business.

Keep in mind, text messaging exists as a service because it is a byproduct of network signaling. Text messaging itself was the transformation of a network signaling feature into a popular retail product.

Mobile money services using the text messaging channel are an example of adding new value to what might otherwise be viewed as a commodity messaging service (a dumb pipe).            

For customers, the benefits are even greater. The income of rural Kenya recipients increased by up to 30 percent since they started using M-PESA one study found.

In 2013, 43 percent of Kenya’s GDP flowed through M-Pesa, with over 237 million person-to-person transactions.

The percentage of adults with access to formal financial services since 2009 was about 41 percent of adults had access. Now 67 percent of Kenyans use formal financial services.

According to one study sponsored by the World Bank, 77 percent of rural residents reported an increase of household income after they started using M-Pesa between five and 30 percent of income, in large part because urban wage earners sent more money back to their home villages.

Also, in part the boosts might have happened because villagers no longer needed to travel to urban areas to get their money.

M-Pesa resulted in lower costs to use banking services as well. Sending 1,000 Ksh (US$13.06) through M-Pesa cost US$0.39, which is 27 percent cheaper than the post office’s PostaPay (US$0.52) and 68 percent cheaper than sending it via a bus company (US$1.16).

Urban users say they prefer M-Pesa because it is faster (the transfer occurs almost instantaneously), easier to access (there is a wide agent network), and safer (they don’t have to travel with money).

For Safaricom, M-Pesa also has been a marketing tool. Relatives in urban areas asked rural villagers to sign up and use M-Pesa, since it is cheaper to send money to a registered user.

For example, it costs 30 Ksh (US$0.39) to transfer 1,000 Ksh (US$ 13.04) if the user is registered. If the recipient is not registered, Safaricom charges a higher total fee of 75 Ksh (US$0.98) to the sender.

About 20 percent of the unbanked interviewees in Kibera use M-Pesa as a substitute for informal methods of savings, especially keeping money at home.

Most say they prefer to store money with M-PESA because it is safer. They do not need to worry about household members finding, and stealing, their money.

Many of the unbanked further note that they keep money in M-PESA because they trust Safaricom, whereas they feel that money stored in a bank is at a high risk of being lost.

The point is that mobile money has emerged, in some markets, as a prime example of how mobile operators have “moved up the stack.”

Verizon Plans "5G" Field Tests in 2016

Verizon says it is accelerating its fifth generation network activity by conducting field trials of “5G” technology (technically pre-5G, since the standard does not yet exist) in 2016.

Verizon's field trials will include gear and software from Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung.

As part of the work, 5G network environments, or "sandboxes," are being created in Verizon's Waltham, Mass., and San Francisco Innovation Centers.

"5G is no longer a dream of the distant future," said Roger Gurnani, Verizon EVP and chief information and technology architect for Verizon. "We feel a tremendous sense of urgency to push forward on 5G and mobilize the ecosystem by collaborating with industry leaders and developers to usher in a new generation of innovation."

Would Smartphone Leasing be Good for Everyone in the Ecosytem?

Wider adoption of smartphone leasing programs could be beneficial for device makers, mobile service providers and consumers alike, some believe.

We expect smartphone leasing to continue to replace subsidies and eventually equipment installment plans in the U.S., especially at market share gainers T-Mobile and Sprint,” analyst Kevin Smithen of Macquarie Securities said.

The key advantage is shifted capital investment in devices on the part of the service provider. Device leasing could provide a boost for handset suppliers as well.

“Sprint’s ‘iPhone for Life’ and other industry leasing plans are much better for Apple than EIP plans because they force the consumer to turn in the phone and upgrade after two-years rather than allowing the customer to keep the device as in EIP,” Smithen argues.

Think of that as a forced obsolescence program, with all the advantages that tends to confer. Plus there is a residual value capture by the leasing entity.

Getting Spectrum Policy Right is Crucial, Juniper Research Says

Getting spectrum issues right will be a critical factor in the success of 5G, argues analyst Nitin Bhas of Juniper Research. “It is critical to 5G’s success that the most feasible and appropriate spectrum bands are assigned, not only to support existing high bandwidth and capacity requirements, but also the wide ranging devices and applications contributing towards the Internet of Everything”, Bhas said.

For many, the most shocking attributes of 5G will include the low latency, high bandwidth and extremely high frequencies. Latencies might be as low as one millisecond, bandwidths might range from one Gbps to 10 Gbps per device, and frequencies will include millimeter wavelengths that have generally be commercially unfeasible for consumer applications.

A new report from Juniper Research forecasts initial adoption by 2020, with rapid adoption for 5G from 2025 onwards, with active connections representing a threefold increase from 2024 to reach 240 million by then.  

However, this will represent a very limited global reach, accounting for approximately three percent of global mobile connections.

5G will be the subject of the most complex set of standardisation activities over the next five years before first roll-out of commercial services in 2020.

Juniper expects Japan and South Korea to be amongst the first countries to launch commercial 5G services.

A number of operators from this region have chosen their suppliers and set a commercial service dates. The region will witness a very high rate of growth in connections similar to that of North America. While none of the US operators have made any public announcements regarding 5G trials or pilots, Juniper feels that given its current 4G leadership, the US will closely follow the Far East & China in deployment and adoption.

A new  whitepaper, Need for 5G: Hot Pursuit, is available to download from the Juniper Research website together with further details of new research on the subject.

Storage Spending Shows Cloud Push

Total worldwide enterprise storage systems factory revenue grew 2.1 percent year over year to $8.8 billion during the second quarter of 2015 (2Q15), according to International Data Corporation (IDC). And the direction of spending it toward cloud-based storage.

Spending is shifting to “cloud-based storage, integrated systems, software-defined storage, and flash-optimized storage systems at the expense of traditional external arrays,” said IDC research director Eric Sheppard.

Revenue growth was strongest within the group of original design manufacturers that sell directly to hyperscale datacenters. This portion of the market was up 25.8 percent year over year to $1 billion.

Sales of server-based storage were up 10 percent during the quarter and accounted for $2.1 billion in revenue.

External storage systems remained the largest market segment, but the $5.7 billion in sales represented a -3.9 percent year-over-year decline. Total capacity shipments were up 37 percent year over year to 30.3 exabytes during the quarter.

Top 5 Vendors, Disk Storage Systems Market, 2Q 2015 (Revenues in US$ Millions)
Vendor	2Q15 Revenue	2Q15 Market Share	2Q14 Revenue	2Q14 Market Share	2Q15/2Q14 Revenue Growth
1. EMC	$1,693	19.2%	$1,764	20.4%	-4.0%
2. HP	$1,431	16.2%	$1,317	15.2%	8.7%
3. Dell	$889	10.1%	$916	10.6%	-2.9%
4. IBM†	$712	8.1%	$1,002	11.6%	-28.9%
5. NetApp	$615	7.0%	$765	8.8%	-19.6%
ODM Direct	$1,012	11.5%	$804	9.3%	25.8%
Others	$2,482	28.1%	$2,090	24.1%	18.8%
All Vendors	$8,835	100.0%	$8,657	100.0%	2.1%
Source: IDC

Has LTE Hit Global Inflection Point?

Long Term Evolution fourth generation network (4G) subscribers globally passed the 750 million market in September 2015, according to the Global mobile Suppliers Association.

That might be an important subscriber milestone, as it represents 10 percent adoption, globally.

Historically, in the U.S. consumer electronics market, 10-percent adoption has been the inflection point at which adoption of any popular new gadget or service dramatically accelerates. If that pattern can be said to apply to global markets as well, then we should now see a sharp acceleration in LTE adoption rates globally.

There were 755 million LTE subscriptions worldwide on 30 June 2015, said Alan Hadden, GSA VP. Some "441 million LTE subscriptions were added in the past year, equivalent to 140 percent annual growth.”

GSA forecasts there will be at least one billion LTE subscriptions worldwide by the end of 2015.

Do Users Really Spend 90% of Mobile Internet Time in Apps?

About 90 percent of smartphone internet time is spent in using apps, while 11 percent of time is spent using the mobile web, according to Nielsen, even if consumers do not agree.

In fact, the Internet Advertising Bureau suggests, much mobille app use might actually be a form of mobile Web usage, as when links in apps send users to web pages.

Higher Content Prices Producing Lower Sales? Books, Not Just Video, Seeing the Trend

One reason retail prices for linear video entertainment subscriptions do not fall, as do prices for virtually all other communications services, is the content nature of the product, which creates uniqueness and scarcity, which in turn props up prices.

It also appears to be true that overpricing of desired content depresses sales, especially when product alternatives are available. That, most concede, is why consumers slowly are abandoning linear video.

Other content businesses face similar pressures.

By now we all are familiar with the reality that the Internet wrings out cost from every industry and market it touches. We understand the principle that users increasingly view apps, content and transactions as activities that should not cost much, if they cost anything in a direct, out of pocket payment sense.

So it perhaps comes as no surprise that book publishers, now better able to set their own prices for e-book sales--and setting them higher--are finding that fewer consumers seem to be willing to pay the higher prices.

To be sure, that is what one might expect: higher prices tend to produce lower sales. For anything but a luxury good, that would not be unexpected.

Specifically, “three big publishers that signed new pacts with Amazon— Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Book Group, News Corp’s HarperCollins Publishers and CBS Corp.’s Simon & Schuster—reported declining e-book revenue in their latest reporting periods,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

To be sure, with content products there always is the subjective matter of  whether the current content resonates with buyers. Sometimes hit movies, songs or books get marketed, while at other times the products might not be so strong. It is possible that the data only reflect a lull in product desirability,  measured in terms of  consumer interest in buying.

source: Wall Street Journal

But it might also be the case that book products, like most other content, simply faces price resistance in the digital domain, as do most other digital products.  

It is tempting to speculate that, as is the case for  many other digital products, we might also be seeing a “winner takes all” sort of trend, where most of the revenue or profit is generated by a relatively few number of hit titles.

But book publishing had a “hits” dynamic before content went digital. And many would argue digital distribution enables a “longer tail” of sales of less popular titles.

The bad news for book publishers might be, though, that the Internet is simply wringing profit out of the business, as it so often does. Publishers are free to price as they like. But consumers also are free to refuse to buy.

1,000 Times More Mobile Bandwidth Inevitably Requires Core Network Virtualization

A business as complicated as telecommunications necessarily leads to “silos” of knowledge, since nobody can understand “everything.” That is applicable to mobile Internet access as well.

In other words, what we think is required for supplying more bandwidth to end users on 4G and 5G networks requires understanding how core networks must change.

By 2018, 62 percent of Long Term Evolution networks  will support the Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) specifications. Virtualized networks, in other words, are becoming an integral part of mobile access functions.

To vastly increase available bandwidth, many tools are needed, ranging from new spectrum and small cells to Wi-Fi offload, better antenna technology, better radios, spectrum sharing and virtualized networks.

source: 3G 4G Small Cells blog