Emerging Market Handset Programme - Phase One History

Emerging Market Handset Programme - Phase One History Context  The GSM industry is moving quickly towards its next billion connections, the majority of which will come from emerging markets.  The Emerging Market Handset programme forms a key component of the GSM Association's (GSMA's) "Connecting the Unconnected" initiative that has attracted widespread industry and government recognition.  Research estimates that in the region of 80% of the world's population have wireless coverage but only 25% of people use mobile services. The research also identifies handset cost as one of the most significant barriers to mobile communications affordability in emerging markets.  Programme Overview  In response to this opportunity the GSMA, working with its operator members, created the Emerging Market Handset (EMH) Programme to catalyse the creation of a new Ultra-Low Cost Handset segment.  The programme is now successfully underway - during the first phase, EMH handsets were supplied through 10 participating operators into over 17 countries including India, South Africa, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Yemen, Sri Lanka and Kenya; it is estimated that these markets have a total population of more than 1.8 billion people.  Phase One History To unlock this new market segment, the GSM Association brought together an Initial Working Group of its operator members that serve emerging markets and facilitated the first 'Invitation to Strategic Partnership'. In doing so, the GSM Association was able to create critical mass.  This invitation resulted in dialogue with 18 vendors and in February 2005, Motorola was chosen to supply the first GSMA endorsed handset for this new segment. Motorola performed best against the criteria, offering a family of products built on its Ultra-Low Cost C114 platform that is optimised for the durability, long talk time, and design preferences of emerging markets. Motorola delivered these products at a price point below $40 (ex factory).  Analysts say these handsets have allowed far more people to take advantage of mobile communications. For example, the arrival of the Motorola C115 in India helped boost Indian GSM operators' monthly net customer additions by one third to 1.6 million in June, according to a report by Lehman Brothers.