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Business Model Innovation

Is it possible to profitably provide consumers with cellular connectivity for 2 or 3 dollars a month?

As much as I like seeing field research make it into product, my personal pick of last week's announcements was Wireless Village [press release 0.2MB, PDF] currently being trialled in India. Why? Because it takes an existing and well known service setup - providing cellular connectivity and re-designs the task process signing-up customers, billing, invoicing, service support to suit local conditions. If, as expected the trial benefits all the parties involved (consumers, local entrepreneurs, micro-finance organisations, operators, my employer) this could have significant impact in connecting the next billion.

And why the photo of a tree? The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted the extended cell phone antenna between the branches.

Writing from Tokyo | May 7, 2007 | Permalink