21st century world would be a cellular age going by the phenomenal increase in cell phones worldwide.
The cellular age is fast accelerating with cell phones magnifying our larger identity in both individual and collective domains and in various social, cultural, economic contexts. This tremendous growth of mobile penetrations is a scene to be witnessed worldwide especially in developing countries with larger population concentration. Thus, the power of cellular technology is evident, the South Asia must take full advantage of this phenomenon. From humble SMS and basic voice to smartphones and enterprise workflow, mobile is the choice for new content and services. Mobiles are not just convenient and fashionable but liberating and empowering for hundreds of millions of South Asians previously locked out of the digital movement.
The ubiquitous cell phones/mobiles are handy gadgets that can now do anything from allowing physicians to review patient records on-the-go, to alerting drivers in any city of nearby parking spaces while looking for a spot, in addition to the texting, surfing and calling on many of today’s phones. From cricket news and music ringtones to agricultural price information and tsunami alerts, mobiles have become the “first screen” of choice for millions of South Asians. The mobile phone is improving the marketing reach of consumer brands – while also providing vital connectivity to “bottom of the pyramid” users in remote parts of South Asia.
The mobile revolution has triumphed in South Asia, and now needs regular industry‐driven peer-acknowledged awards to highlight the best successes and point the way towards even more benefits. The mBillionth Award acknowledges South Asia as a key hub of the world’s mobile & telecom market in terms of penetration and innovation, and promotes the best of mobile-based implementations in the region.
It is a well known fact that mobile phones are more affordable than computers, require less infrastructure, do not require the user to have much technological knowledge or even to be able to read and write, and are easy to carry from place to place.
These devices lend themselves to flexible usage (text, voice and two-way communication), do not require special training, and the costs of connectivity are relatively low. Due to the low cost of labour, mobile phones in developing countries are much cheaper and easier to repair than computers.
In the view of above scenario there are hundreds of mobile based technologies coming every day and there is no platform where such applications, gadgets, service delivery can get recognized. Realizing the need of creating a benchmark in best innovations of mobile applications, service delivery and mobile instrument, mBillionth Award has made leapfrog in recognizing and promoting mobile technologies for efficient governance, rural development and betterment of masses.
Currently, there is a huge lack of efforts similar to this‐ even though mobile & telecom market is already considered to be a mature market but the desired beneficial impact has not been leveraged out of this in enabling larger mass based services with meaningful deliverable. With initiatives like the Mobile Congress, which happens as a part of mBillionth Award South Asia Gala, this model is providing multiple windows of solutions under one roof with synergetic efforts, ideas, and approaches: Award & Congress with purpose.