The Mobile Revolution and the cellphone as an antipoverty vaccine

Poverty reduction strategies for the poorest nations are presently inadequate and should be revised using 21 st century technologies. One significant 21 st century technological development is the cellphone. From its inception, the cellphone haphazardly evolved to become a key player in the social and economic life of nearly half the global population. The public, policymakers, governmental institutions, and industry heavyweights should understand the critical role that cellphones can play as an ldquoantipoverty vaccinerdquo to the last four billion poor people in the world. The cellphone, and its associated services, empower people to entrepreneurship and can become an anchor to safety and economic well-being - a vital feature for populations constantly on the move due to low grade economies, disasters, and social turmoil. Bringing the cellphone and its associated services to the last four billion is not yet financially viable unless proactive cooperative action is taken by governmental and civil society institutions, together with industrial companies-network operators, service providers and telecom manufacturers - to jump-start the technology and service design programs necessary for the application en masse of the cellphone as a vaccine against poverty.