Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas

Mobile phones are the success story of bridging the rural digital divide, bringing tangible economic benefits and acting as agents of social mobilization through improved communication.

Through this new section, you can locate a wide range of materials on the challenges that rural communities face in enhancing the benefits of mobile telephony, and look at examples of interesting initiatives and good outcomes from around the globe:

The Online Forum on “Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas” 17-28 November 2008
Detailed Summary of Week I discussions in the Forum
The Policy Brief, summarizing the key conclusions of the Forum.
Interviews have been published with mobile phone experts Christian Kreutz, Consultant and Knowledge Activist, and Naimur Rahman, head of the OneWorld office in South Asia and the LifeLines India project.
At the Knowledge Share Fair in Rome, Italy, a discussion session was held about “Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas”. To read the summary, click here.
Resources related to rural telephony such as interviews, reports, booklets, articles, country profiles, and more, have been added to the e-agriculture Knowledge Base under the topic "mobile phone". Simply login first to conduct your search and access all the material available.
Links to a wide range of websites with relevant material on rural telephony can be found through the del.icio.us tags “mobile_phone” and “mobile_phone_forum”.
The Spanish language Online Forum on "Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas" 20-30 Abril 2009.
Policy Brief from Spanish Forum in Spanish, English and French
Interviews in Spanish about Mobile Telephony and Rural Development:
- Interview with Dr. Roxana Barrantes- Researcher and Professor in Perú discusses Mobile Telephony & Rural Development.
- Interview about Traceability, Geo-Traceability & Mobile Telephony for Rural Development. Ricardo Sánchez Villagrán- Argentina
- Interview: Project in El Salvador facilitates access to information to farmers with SMS to communicate prices. Raúl Corleto, FIAGRO
- Interview with Hugo Carrión- Researcher with Imaginar. Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas- Ecuador

Please share your pictures of people using mobile phones through our Flikr account! Also, don't forget that you can also follow us on Twitter, Delicious.

Videos related to mobile phone projects are linked to the e-agriculture YouTube account.