Sunday, October 11, 2009

Uses and impact of M-Pesa

The uses and impact of M-Pesa, the mobile-phone-based banking system operated by Safaricom in Kenya are explained in "Poor people using mobile financial services: Observations on customed usage and impact from M-Pesa", by Morawczynski, Olga and Pickens, Mark, CGAP Brief, 2009.

Morawczynski studied the use of M-Pesa by men living in Kibera slum on the outskirts of Nairobi who use M-Pesa mainly for transferring money to their families in Bukura, a farming village in western Kenya.

M-Pesa reduces money transfer fees, saves lots of times for rural women who rely on remittances, increases funds remitted, but may also weaken ties between husband and wives.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Vint Cerf lecture on the internet at Singularity University

Vint Cerf has given an excellent lecture "The Internet Today" at Singularity University. A video of the lecture is available at SU's video site.

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Friday, October 09, 2009

Trends Mobile-phones

The Economist of September 24, 2009 has "A special report on telecoms in emerging markets."
The report comprises six articles:
- Mobile marvels
- Eureka moments
- The mother of invention
- Up, up and Huawei
- Beyond voice: New uses for mobile phones
- Finishing the job: Internet for the masses
In addition there is a useful list of links to research studies.

The lead editorial is also concerned with mobiles: "The power of mobile money".
On the Economist website there is a useful short video visualizing the advance of mobile-phones.