Movirtu, a UK-based company that provides Mobile Identity Management (MIM) solutions for wireless telecommunication service providers, plans to roll out a cloud phone aimed at low-income users in Madagascar. The product was being tested in 2010 and started being deployed as a pilot in Madagascar by Airtel Madagascar. With a single community phone, such as ‘Simu Ya Jamii’, an agent will be able to offer access to individual accounts and the customers will be able to maintain their called identification (Caller ID). The account details are stored in the operator's hub and each individual user on the platform gets to store contacts and can have a service which forwards missed calls to another phone for when they are not logged in. It also contains a gateway that will allow them to use m-money services like M-Pesa.
According to the World Bank, 4 billion people live on less than Kshs. 180 ($2) per day – most of who live in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. This means that buying a phone for this population is not a priority as compared to basic needs such as food. With the cheapest phone going for around Kshs. 1,000, this cost is beyond their means thus most of these families miss the opportunity to enjoy services that most of us do on the mobile network. Their lives could be greatly enhanced socially and economically with access to a mobile phone. The mobile phone immediately puts them in touch with families, healthcare services or potential employers, without having to travel many miles from their rural villages. Hence, a cloud phone shared among three or five persons would bring reprieve to the rural communities and provide a channel of communication to the outside world.
So, how does a cloud phone work?
Once launched by a local operator, people subscribe to the service by visiting their local village payphone agent or airtime voucher vendor to purchase a mobile number. To access their account, they simply borrow a phone from a friend or family member or use a community phone. No special handsets, SIM cards or additional client software are required; rather, the service works instantly on all basic mobile handsets available today
The subscriber enters a network code; that, in turn, activates the cloud infrastructure platform, such as MXShare from Movirtu, and enables the Cloud Phone service on the handset. The Cloud Phone service makes them an identified subscriber with a unique phone number and prepaid account.
Movirtu will be charging a subscriber an estimated amount of between Kshs.10 to Kshs.20 to buy a phone number which will then give a subscriber access to the phone profile in the cloud mobile infrastructure. The subscriber logs in with his or her own number and a pin code for authentication. Then a prompt is played by the cloud platform such as, "Hello, John. Your balance is Kshs.20. You have two missed calls. You've got one SMS message." The call costs are the same as the existing prepaid tariffs that already exist on the prepaid network. Besides allowing subscribers to receive remittances, the technology can be used as a gateway for the introduction of shared mobile-Web enabled devices in the rural communities. This will propagate better services such as m-commerce, m-health and m-learning. These services are key in the achievement of the objectives of Vision 2030.
