Eyeline Communications » Asia

WSJ: Selling Potatoes By Phone

Ivan Komarov — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:15:43 +0000

Below I will re-post a full (almost) article as it was reported by the Wall Street Journal here.

Why did I decide to re-post it here? Just because, I am the Editor! Well, more precisely — because it is interesting. Wait. No: because it gives us ideas about what to do in poor countries which love VAS more than rich countries. Why do they love VAS? Because poor countries use mobile phones not just to call but to enjoy every little thing on them. And there are indeed a lot of hidden treasures even in the simplest mobile phones. Mobile phones can supply crucial data and they do substitute computers and Internet. The question in this context is “How to build a profitable business model?”

Most of people around us and in the world in general are poor. Therefore mobile services that they can afford to consume (unlike Internet and computers) are the only high-tech and communication means for them.

In the business sense, a lot of small users can add up to substantial revenues. On the other hand, mobile technology can substantially improve their lives. Sounds like we have a fit.

In Remote Bangladesh Founder of CellBazaar Sees Mobile Technology As a Force for Change
September 8, 2008

CellBazaar, which offers a virtual marketplace for the 20 million mobile-phone subscribers of Bangladesh’s GrameenPhone Ltd., might not sound like a big deal in much of the Wi-Fi-enabled, laptop-toting world. But to farmers and fishmongers in Bangladesh with almost no access to computer terminals — and often without the electricity to power them — the service is a much-needed portal to additional income in the densely populated agricultural nation.

Kamal Quadir, founder and chief executive of CellBazaar Inc., gave up the prospect of a financial career in the U.S. after graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management to realize his dream of using mobile phones, and to a far lesser extent the Web, to bring the electronic marketplace to the farthest reaches of his native Bangladesh.

Three years after Mr. Quadir presented his 30-page conceptual paper, which topped MIT’s annual Ideas Award and subsequently attracted seed-funding from American investors, CellBazaar has a firm partnership with GrameenPhone, a telecommunications-services provider that was founded by his older brother Iqbal and is now majority owned by Norwegian telecom giant Telenor ASA. GrameenPhone is preparing for a public listing.

Although 75% of Bangladesh’s population has no access to electricity and Internet penetration is only 0.03%, CellBazaar has more than one million users. A quarter of them use the service on a regular basis, with about 550 new items posted each day. Almost all of that is by mobile phone, though CellBazaar also offers an online platform. But what Mr. Quadir, 36 years old, finds gratifying are the stories behind the numbers — such as a post from a farmer in a remote area of Bangladesh offering to sell a bag of potatoes.

“It’s just amazing to know that people who wouldn’t usually use such technology now know how to and can,” Mr. Quadir said. To overcome illiteracy, CellBazaar has a voice-message option whereby posts are read out in Bangla, the national language.

The Massachusetts-incorporated company has 22 employees in Bangladesh and three in Boston handling everything from technology development to customer-service and marketing. Mr. Quadir wants to expand CellBazaar to developing markets in East Africa and South Asia where Internet penetration isn’t widespread.

Tor Ching Li spoke with Mr. Quadir in Singapore.

WSJ: What advice would you give someone starting out in your field?Mr. Quadir: That mobile technology can be a force for change in developing countries. If we start seeing it more as a minicomputer in our pocket rather than a talking device, we can imagine hundreds of viable business opportunities through mobile technologies. Thus, my advice would be to keep in mind that mobile technology has gone beyond simply taking pictures and sending them to loved ones. It is now capable of providing major services such as banking and health care, which could impact society on a larger scale.

WSJ: What is the most important piece of technology you use personally?

Mr. Quadir: The iPhone. My belief is that iPhone-type technology will make a huge impact on developing countries in coming years. Mobile-phone penetration has overtaken computers in developing economies. The stronger this ubiquitous tool, the more computing power that people will have there. The iPhone allows the mind to direct intuitively with pictorial commands, which is why such technology will be a breakthrough in an environment challenged by literacy and technology barriers.

WSJ: Is there a difference between the telecom industry in Asia and the rest of the world?

Mr. Quadir: There are two basic tiers of consumer behavior. The first tier engages in just-for-fun, staying-in-touch conversations with friends, family and colleagues. This group is very lucrative for operators as they talk for extended periods.

The second tier comprises the utility group, which is extremely price sensitive and uses the phone in short bursts only for work. They call to get the basic information and hang up, often using [text messaging] as a cheaper route.

One of the big challenges for operators is how to increase the usage of mobile phones among the second-tier customers. Accepting that they are short-burst users, how do you increase their volume of calls so that this consumer is also on the phone for a large portion of the day? A company like CellBazaar is critical in such strategies, because it generates thousands of new calls from consumers trying to bargain with a buyer or learn more about the sale item.

WSJ: What trend do you see in the telecom industry?

Mr. Quadir: In poor countries where purchasing power is very low, telephone operators need to focus on how to boost that purchasing power. Telephone operators can do so by seeing their consumers as producers. The more the consumers produce, the more they can purchase the telephone services. One way in which they can produce more is by buying and selling more efficiently. By embracing CellBazaar, operators create a beautiful win-win synergy with their subscribers. The operators make money in tandem with the subscribers.

WSJ: What was the most satisfying decision you’ve made as a manager?

Mr. Quadir: Although the early adopters of CellBazaar or similar services are usually urban populations with easy access to technology, I focused on bringing this technology to lower-income groups and to people living in rural areas. Isolated, uninformed and struggling traders and farmers often have little option but to sell their goods cheaply to wholesalers. Many spend their minimal profits traveling great distances to markets. So, besides the social intention, it makes good business sense to target the larger user base. A recent research report found that 59% of the postings made on CellBazaar are from rural areas.

Chinese Telco Restructuring Opens Sales Opportunities

Ivan Komarov — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:53:18 +0000

From Yahoo News:

Analysts say AsiaInfo (NasdaqGM:ASIA), a Beijing company, which sells key back-office support to wireless carriers, is set for explosive growth after China announced a massive wireless industry restructuring in May. The announcement spurred investor interest in the company driving up its share priсe more than 15% in the weeks following the news. AsiaInfo is the leader in its market. It provides software that helps China Mobile and Unicom with billing, setting up customer accounts, customer management and data analytics.
Chinese telco restructuring will create two strong carriers to compete against market behemoth China Mobile (NYSE:CHL). China Mobile has been the clear market dominator with more than 65% of wireless cell phone users and having little threat from China Unicom. China Unicom (NYSE:CHU) the country’s No. 2 mobile phone company, will buy China Netcom Group (NYSE:CN) for $23.8 billion in stock. China Unicom also will sell part of its wireless business to fixed-line carrier China Telecom (NYSE:CHA) for $15.9 billion, creating the third wireless provider.

Mobile Internet: Networking Sites Are Most Popular

Ivan Komarov — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:20:41 +0000

Opera Mini is the most used web browser on mobile phones.

Recently the creators of Opera has published a report on Opera Mini use.

They concluded that:

- Social networking is popular worldwide and is the leading source of Web traffic for mobile devices.

Almost 40% of traffic worldwide is to social networks. In some countries, such as the United States, South Africa and Indonesia, the social Web accounts for more than 60% of the traffic.

- Successful sites on the Web find users on mobile phones, further underscoring the emergence of One Web.

Full Web surfing comprises more than 77% of all traffic. Content on WAP and .mobi sites accounted for 23% of mobile Web traffic.

In March 2008 11.9 million Opera Mini users generated more than 33 million MB of data for operators worldwide. This represents an almost 88% growth over the previous quarter.

Something is definitely new this year. I think we are getting very close to the threshold after which we will become “truly mobile”. I.e. the mobilization will happen. By the way, isn’t it peculiar that mobile devices are now being prohibited in the UK parks to encourage parents to disconnect from the office and reconnect fully with their families?

I too noticed that many parents in concerts where I take my daughter enjoy their own “plays” with mobiles/PDAs.

Although modern concert halls have signal suppressors so there is no signal reception at all. Problem solved. (What about emergency calls?)

Well, back to Opera stats. Below is an excert from their site with stats about most used content on Opera Mini. Russia leads the world in understanding of convenience of web browsing on mobile phones (discovery that you can browse the web when the phone says “WAP only” is truely amazing).

Vit — notice Indonesia in #2.

Snapshot of the top 10 countries for Opera Mini (ranked by usage):

Snapshot: Russia

Russian Opera Mini users consume more entertainment content than users in all countries except for Ukraine. Traffic to entertainment, leisure and sports sites comprise almost 40% of Web traffic to mobile phones.

Snapshot: Indonesia

With 63% of traffic going to social networks, Indonesia is tied with the United States as the number one country for social networking on the mobile Web.

Snapshot: China

Web portal content and search engine access is extremely popular in China, accounting for nearly 55% of the traffic.
E-commerce and e-mail are not yet as popular in China as in other parts of the world. Together, these two categories combine to create less than 2% of overall Opera Mini traffic in China.

Snapshot: United States

More than 63% of U.S. Web traffic on mobile phones is to social networks, tying it with Indonesia for the number one spot.

Snapshot: India

India favors social networking, with nearly half (48.9%) of all traffic going to social networks.

Snapshot: South Africa

A very high 61% of traffic in South Africa is to social networks.
South Africa has the second-highest penetration of e-mail access on mobile devices (more than 4% of the traffic).

Snapshot: Ukraine

Opera Mini users in the Ukraine enjoy their entertainment and sports. More than 61% of traffic is in this category.
Mobile-optimized content remains popular in the Ukraine–more than 43% of Opera Mini traffic in the Ukraine is directed towards WAP sites.

Snapshot: United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is the world leader in mobile e-mail, although that number remains small. More than 11% of traffic in Q1 was to Web-based e-mail services.

Snapshot: Germany

Compared to users in other countries, German users shop the most on Opera Mini. E-commerce accounts for more than 7% of German Opera Mini traffic.
German users of Opera Mini enjoy entertainment and sports content on their mobile phones. More than 28% of traffic heads to entertainment and other leisure sites.

Snapshot: Poland

In Poland, people using Opera Mini prefer to access the full Web from their mobile phones–only 4% of the traffic is to WAP or .mobi sites.

Asian women – lucrative targets for travel and hospitality industry

Juliag — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:32:45 +0000

Some interesting facts about female travelers in Asia from Singapore travel agencies.

Resume: Women travel to taste and enjoy their financial independence. They are more adventurous than men. They do it for themselves (men prefer to spend money for expensive “toys” to imress others then for jorney). They need shopping (read “spending money”) as therapy. They begin to travel more than men.

“In fact, with women in Asia making around 125 million trips a year – within Asia and elsewhere – they are set to play a decisive role in the development of the travel, hospitality and tourism sectors in the next decade, says Mr Don Birch, CEO of travel facilitator Abacus International.
MasterCard study conducted in major Asian markets this year, revealed that 42 per cent of women surveyed travelled in the last 12 months, compared to 37 per cent of the men.
In Asia, the most active female travellers are from developed cities like Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong, where the women have more disposable income.

TAT to improve the reputation of Thai tourism

Juliag — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:13:41 +0000

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has begun new campaign to “improve and edit all the information about Thailand”. The online campaign includes editing of articles about Thailand on Wikipedia and developing of web-portal with TAT’s and traveler’s UGC content about the country.

Good initiative.

TAT should also pay more attention to mobile media (in addition to this online campain), helping tourisits in a time of visit.

Now, for example, AIS mobile service for travelers doesn’t work. ConciergeGo, another source of information about major Asian cities on mobile, has no information about Thailand too.

SingTel promotes innovative mobile applications

Juliag — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:14:09 +0000

Singapore’s leading operator, SingTel, has recently announced its $2.3 million Partner Programme which aim is to bring new applications for mobile market.
Mon, Jan 14, 2008
The Straits Times

“Developers will get access to the latest software tools, mobile phones and even preferential cellphone charges as part of plan to market more homegrown applications.
If they are deemed good enough by SingTel, their software may also be marketed to the region with the help of the telco. Altogether, SingTel and its partner telcos in the region have 158 million mobile subcriptions, dwarfing the 5.4 million subscriptions here.

< ...>Such projects are common with cellphone operators the world over as they seek the next big game or application that companies and consumers will use on their small screens”.

The project supported by Infocomm Development Authority and industry vendors like Nokia and Microsoft

Sistema Took a Foothold in India

Juliag — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 05:04:25 +0000

Source: http://www.cnews.ru/, 01/12/08

The Indian authorities came to the unexpected decision in distribution of telecommunication licenses. JSFC Sistema, the largest Russian telecommunication corporation, received the nationwide license to operate on the whole territory of India at the time when a whole group of companies with much higher priority for receiving Indian telecommunication licenses were suspended from participation in the tender for the licenses. Analysts are sure that Russians have won the tender only due to their administrative resources.

The Indian Department of Telecommunications (IDT) came to the decision which had been expected during several months about issuing letters of intent for receiving Universal Access Licenses. As it was noted by Sify, the Indian newspaper, the process of handing over the letters of intent was conducted in chaotic and dramatic environment: the heads of telecommunication companies, claiming to receive Universal Access Licenses, were almost pushing each other out of the line organized in front of the office of the Department of Telecommunications in order to get first inside the building. One of the top managers was even claiming to make a suicide if he would not be allowed inside. After the distribution of the letters of intent, the representatives of the companies, which loose the tender, organized the improvised protest demonstration.
Shyam Telelink, the Indian regional operator which belongs to Russian JSFC Sistema, won the third place in the license tender: it received the letters of intent for 21 districts (copies of its letters can be found at the official web site of the Indian Department of Telecommunications). Taking into the account that Shyam Telelink is already operating in Rajahstan, the Russian subsidiary is becoming the nation-wide mobile operator. “Sistema has achieved the big and unexpected success, since initially it was not among favorites,” – states the General Director of analytic agency Russtelecom, Yuryi Bryukvin. “More likely the preference was given to Sistema not because of its big investments options but due to its lobbying abilities”. The representatives of Sistema itself declined to give any comments on this situation.
Sistema got really lucky in comparison to the results of other Indian operators: Spice Communication from Kamataka district has received only 4 licenses and HFCL from Puniaba did not receive any license at all. The fact that HFCL and Spice submitted their requests for the licenses earlier than Sistema subsidiary, which, according to Indian rules, gave them higher priority during the license distribution, gives the whole situation a piquant flavor.
Among other factors, the decision made by IDT not to consider the requests from six other companies had helped Sistema to enter the Indian market. In particular, ByCell, the company created by Russian investors and registered in Switzerland, was among these six companies. It was the first in line to receive the licenses for 5 districts and its request was accepted but the issuing of the letters of intent was delayed until the approval from the Indian Ministry of Internal Affairs, which leads the investigation regarding this company, would be made. Although the representatives of ByCell believe this investigation to be unfounded.
Parvsnatch, the company operating in the field of development, was also among the companies suspended from the participation in the licenses distribution. According to Economic Times, the economics newspaper, the Indian authorities decided that this company does not have any serious reasons to operate in the sphere of telecommunications. At the same time, another Indian developer – Unitech – has received the license. “IDT behavior while issuing the letters of intent without any clear policy of priorities created the ground for manipulations and disputes,” – notes The Times of India, the Indian newspaper. “The results of the licenses distributions became a big surprise and many companies are thinking about their further actions”, – told the source from one of the telecommunication companies to CNews.
In total 16 companies have received the letters of intent, but taking into account that one of them – Unitech – had submitted requests from 8 of its subsidiaries, the actual number of the new owners of Universal Access Licenses is 9. Now these companies should pay for their licenses in 15 days. The cost of the license depends on the district, and the license for the whole territory of the country is equal to around $400 million. After the pay off, the distribution of frequencies will be held among these companies. If no issues will rise among the license owners, then the number of pan-Indian mobile operators will grow from two to six.

Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2008

Juliag — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:09:33 +0000

15-16 March 2008. Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore
TDS is the only event of its kind Asia, where over 800 top travel executives will gather once again to expand their understanding of this exciting region.

More information on eyefortravel.com

Travel in Asia to shoot to record levels

Juliag — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:28:22 +0000

Some impressive statistics on China Tourism.

China is consolidating its status as Asia’s largest outbound tourism market as 28.55 million people travelled abroad in the first 10 months of 2006 year.

World Tourism Organisation (WTO) estimate of 100m by 2020.

Stripping out travel to Hong Kong and Macau, which represents around 70% of the total, and considering that only 4% of the urban population has travelled overseas, we can clearly see the huge growth potential.

Domestic Travel Market: China’s domestic tourism market makes up more than 90% of the country’s tourism traffic, and contributes more than 70% of total tourism revenue. In 2003, domestic tourists reached 870 million, which is 3.6 times for the same period in 1985. At least 1.21 billion person-times of Chinese travelled within the country last year (2005), an increase of 53 per cent over 2001.

China is also gaining appeal as a top tourist destination. Official statistics show that China received 46.8 million tourists last year, ranking fourth globally. The tourists spent a total of US$29.3 billion, placing China sixth globally.

Sources: china-embassy.org, usembassy-china.org.cn , mindbranch.com

The Third Wave of Tourism Is Coming from Asia

Juliag — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:17:49 +0000

In the near future Asian tourists will determine major travel trends. European and American eras of tourism have passed, and Asian period is coming.

This phase will see two-third’s of the world’s population, mainly in China and India, attaining a level of economic development where their populations will start to travel.
By 2015 there could be 9 million outbound tourists from India and 67 million from China.
Today, the stage is set for the Asian era of tourism.
Asia accounts for some 35-40% of the world’s GDP. China’s imports exceed those of the US, and combined financial reserves of China, Japan and the rest of Asia underpins the deficits of the West.
But the most important demographic trend is the rise of the Asian middle class, particularly in India and China, which account for almost 40% of the world’s population.
“In every society, it is the new middle class which provides the greatest impetus to domestic and outbound tourism, as the newly rich aspire to see the world around them,” said Mr Ho, Chairman of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts.
Defined as those earning around US$10,000 a year, the global middle class, now accounting for less than 8% of the world’s population, will reach around 1.2 billion by 2030.
And within a decade, China will displace Japan and be second only to the US, with a 20% share of the world’s richest people.

Source: stbpassport.com

Eyeline Communications » Asia

WSJ: Selling Potatoes By Phone

Chinese Telco Restructuring Opens Sales Opportunities

Mobile Internet: Networking Sites Are Most Popular

Snapshot of the top 10 countries for Opera Mini (ranked by usage):

Snapshot: Russia

Top 10 sites in Russia

Snapshot: Indonesia

Top 10 sites in Indonesia

Snapshot: China

Top 10 sites in China

Snapshot: United States

Top 10 sites in the U.S.

Snapshot: India

Top 10 sites in India