3. Go small, go local

“To succeed in emerging markets today, companies need to focus on the concept of ‘glocalization,’ combining their globalization efforts with local insights and considerations,” said Huawei chairman Ken Hu. “This means having keen insight into each market’s unique social and economic environment by truly understanding its customers’ core needs. Only then will companies be able to create the innovative business models necessary to win over customers.”

Customized content developed for specific phone types, data-usage scenarios and local languages will significantly increase uptake in emerging markets; customers with basic mobile phones will use applications that are relevant to them and that work on their devices. Considering there are hundreds of local languages and dialects in regions like Africa and the Middle East that aren’t served by today’s mobile applications, CSPs must offer devices and services that accommodate as many as possible if they hope to attract new customers.

Unlike in developed markets, where consumers’ smartphones are cluttered with data-hungry apps, SMS-based applications are the norm in emerging markets, based on both phone availability and the cost of mobile data. Many operators have found success by partnering with Nokia Life Tools, an SMS-based information service.

“Nokia Life Tools was developed to help bridge the digital divide in the emerging markets,” said Jawahar Kanjilal, global head of Nokia Life and vice president of emerging-market services at Nokia “The success of this initiative ... will require a collaborative effort between Nokia, our operator partners, industry participants, and information providers across the agriculture and education sectors as we connect the next billion mobile-phone subscribers, many of whom will indeed hail from these developing regions.”

4. Enable the digital lifestyle

Developing markets are hungry for innovative new services like mobile money, mobile education and mHealth. In Latin America, for instance, only 30 percent of the population has a bank account even though phone penetration tops 100 percent, while in east Africa a mobile currency known as M-Pesa is the dominant form of payment at 80 percent. CSPs must think outside the box to deliver and manage the digital lifestyle in these markets, with financial services, education, agriculture, healthcare, and entrepreneurship (recruitment, business support services) being the hottest verticals for growth.

Vodafone is at the forefront of innovation in bringing digital services to the developing world. In 2011 CEO Vittorio Colao went so far as to say that the UK-based CSP wasn’t a “European company” but rather an “emerging-markets company,” and told investors in February that 4G LTE is for “technofreaks,” signaling that his sights are set on different shores, including Nigeria, where 30 percent of all pharmaceutical products are counterfeit, making it a potentially life-threatening environment for, say, diabetics who are prescribed daily shots of insulin. Fortunately, Vodafone has developed a mobile authentication app that enables subscribers to verify their medicines prior to purchase. In general, poor healthcare in both urban and rural areas of developing nations is driving the need for all sorts of solutions that can be delivered via mobile technology.