Across the Divide

The numbers are in and according to a study from the research group Informa, half the world, that is approximately 3.3 billion people, have a mobile phone1. Moreover, 80 percent of the world, approximately 5.3 billion people, live under a cellular network2, with those networks increasingly becoming 3G. The question is no longer whether or not those without a mobile phone will own one, but rather when. And more interestingly, what will this phone look like on the inside and out? Qualcomm’s Wireless ReachTM initiative is determined to help find the answers to this question as we address the perplexing challenge of not just aiding in narrowing the digital divide, but also closing it in a way that is sensitive to the needs of the next wave of new users.

It is no shock that people who can comfortably afford a mobile device most likely already have one. Mobile phones create efficiencies and productivity in people’s work and personal lives. Millions of students around the world rely on their laptops with high-speed, wireless Internet access, using technology like Qualcomm’s EV-DO to check email, communicate with professors and participate in an online study session with classmates and some do this all at the same time. But we are finding that the advantages of wireless technology, and specifically owning a mobile phone, are not going unnoticed by many in developing countries. “Except in the very lowest BOP (base of pyramid) income segment, average ICT (Information and Communication Technology) spending per household generally exceeds spending on water…Continuing rapid growth in the ICT sector in developing countries suggests ample untapped demand.”3 The same study shows that most of this investment goes towards mobile phones and airtime. Demand is not the issue. It is the “how” and the “what” that Qualcomm set forth to answer when it created the Wireless Reach initiative in 2005.

Understanding the roadblocks to access, Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach initiative supports projects in health care, education, entrepreneurship and public safety targeting underserved communities to work towards resolving the barriers to access. To date, Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach initiative has more than 100 different partners and each project is mapped out carefully and built from conversations with local government officials, operators, other businesses with an aligned interest that reach a specific underserved community, local non-profit organizations and the community. And as the design for the project comes together in greater detail, studies and various assessments are undertaken to make sure the project will not only be feasible and sustainable, but also speaks from the voices of the people the project will be affecting. The challenge is drawing the blueprints for a project that will hold strong under the test of policy changes, a growing world economy, an evolving technology landscape and meet the needs of a particular community.

The members of Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach initiative and our project partners are architects looking to design as many blueprints as it takes to finally close the divide that leaves half of the world’s population without the tools to be competitive in today’s global economy. And through programs such as our health care project in Peru, at a remote clinic deep in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, thousands of villagers living in the surrounding areas are now treated at a clinic with 3G wireless connectivity. With this connectivity, through email and photos, visiting volunteer doctors are able to view and assess different patient conditions before they physically meet the patients. Armed with this information, doctors can now bring the appropriate medicine and tools to treat patients more effectively and provide post-operative feedback via video conferencing. Additionally, access to email enables doctors already at the clinic to find information online or email peers with questions and requests to help patients immediately. With countless surgeries performed from reconstructive facial surgeries to restoring sight to elderly people, we have seen that even the slightest touch of wireless technology improves the lives of the indigenous people in Peru.

With 29 projects in 19 countries, Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach initiative has helped build the bridges to nearly a quarter of a million people all over the world. This has only been possible by developing partnerships across different sectors, both public and private, and across cultures to find opportunities that bring solutions to communities in need. We hope to continue building bridges and help pave the way for new regulatory approaches, shifts in business plans, and whatever else it takes to finally make it across the divide.

Erica Whinston
Manager Government Affairs
Qualcomm

Sources: 1 Informa Telecoms and Media. “Global Penetration Reaches 50%.” Global Mobile. 12 Dec 2007. 20 Jun 2008. http://www.informatm.com/itmgcontent/icoms/product/ GM/199/20017486117.html

2 Corbett, Sara. “Can Cellphones Help End Global Poverty?” New York Times. 12 Apr 2008. 20 Jun 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/ 13anthropology-t.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1

3 Hammond, Allen. “The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid.” World Resources Institute. March 2007. 19 June 2008. http://www.wri.org/publication/the-next-4-billion