The synergies between mobile, energy and water access : Asia

Despite limited access to infrastructure and important poverty levels, asia holds more than 30% of the world's mobile connections. In terms of unique mobile subscribers, there is still important room for growth as around 42% of the population are unique mobile subscribers. Thanks to the increasing coverage and cheap handset and airtime availability, most of the rural and underserved communities can have access to a mobile handset, either by owning it or sharing it with the rest of the community. The mobile telecom infrastructure and mobile services have already made in-ways to support and increase utility coverage, whereas distribution channels, mobile financial services and GSM machine-to-machine connectivity are still in very early phases of development.

Following the publication of 'Sizing the opportunity of Mobile to Support energy and Water access', this document presents a more detailed approach to current mobile-enabled energy and water initiatives, business models and opportunities for the mobile sector. [authors abstract]