Mobile phones are the primary means ofaccessing information or communicating for those who live atthe base of the pyramid (BoP). It is likely that the mobilephone will therefore also be the preferred medium to providevalue-added services to those at the BoP, whether they areprivate users or informal businesses, for the foreseeablefuture. Although the prepaid mobile model has brought voiceand text services to this group, sustainable, replicablemodels for enhanced services, products and applications arefar more limited. The purpose of the study is to investigatethe demand for mobile applications, services and products,with a view to increasing economic opportunities andimproving well-being for users at the BoP. The keyobjectives of the study are the following: i) to increaseunderstanding of the actual usage of mobile services,products and applications at the BoP, and to understandtheir potential for economic and social empowerment; ii) toidentify scalable examples of services, products andapplications at the concept, prototype, or earlyproduct-development stages; iii) to develop tools andinstruments to map viable operation models and objects ofvarious segments of the BoP markets and to identify userneeds; and iv) to formulate recommendations for businessplanning and policy development that can support this potential.
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