In my decades leading mobile businesses, as chairman of the GSMA and leading mobile operators, I’ve seen the impact of a technology suddenly unlocking the pent-up demand of millions of people. I remember the moment when it became clear that by getting off the poles, the mobile communications industry would change the lives of billions of people in emerging markets and allow them to leapfrog their way into the communications age.
I am seeing that moment again today. This time, it is electricity that is going mobile. There are 1.3 billion people on earth without access to reliable electricity. They are demanding a better solution. As the cost of solar panels drops dramatically, electricity is now getting off the poles and going directly into people’s homes, just as phone communication did a decade ago. Off-grid solar will transform the delivery of electrical power as radically as mobile phones did for communication. That is why I recently joined the board of Lumos Global, a company that has combined the mobile and solar revolutions to bring affordable and accessible clean energy to millions of people.
{mosads}For Lumos and off-grid solar, the demand is tremendous, the technology has arrived, and just as important, the business model works for customers and mobile operators. Lumos is coming to the market and partnering with mobile operators at the exact moment that operators are facing a challenge of growing revenues and maintaining customer loyalty. Having the ability to offer life-changing electricity at an affordable price is a phenomenal opportunity for operators to strengthen their relationship with customers. Mobile operators have succeeded in building expansive infrastructure and distribution throughout emerging markets – and now must find way to utilize it for new revenue streams. The opportunity to find a new source of revenue, improve the livelihoods of their customers, and be responsible corporate citizens by expanding renewable energy is just too good for any operator to pass up.
While seeing the number of mobile phones in emerging markets go from thousands to billions, I am constantly reminded that electricity access is still dramatically insufficient. Mobile phones have become integral to the business of everyday life, yet for many in Africa and Asia, the simple act of charging those phones was a challenge. With the electric grid in these regions leaving over a billion people without electricity, many have been forced to turn to expensive and low quality alternatives.
Dirty and expensive generators, kerosene lanterns, and pay per charge phone charging stands are all incredibly expensive for what they offer and come with many other downsides. There are 300 million households on earth who spend an average of $150 a year on inferior electricity products. $45 billion spent on unreliable and polluting electricity because people have no other alternative.
Until now. Lumos brings affordable, accessible, and reliable solar energy to off-grid homes. By partnering with mobile operators, Lumos allows customers to pay for their electricity with existing mobile phone accounts. I believe that this is the solution for the billion people who are living with a mobile phone and without reliable electricity. For only 50 US cents a day, customers can power lights, a fan, a tv, mobile chargers, and small appliances all at the same time. For decades, these off-grid communities have been underserved. With Lumos and mobile operators working together, students are able to do homework at night, entrepreneurs can keep stores open after dark, health clinics and religious centers can further their mission, and billions of people are able to connect to one another with cellphones they previously couldn’t reliably charge.
Mobile phones leapfrogged old land line technology and radically changed the economic wellbeing of billions of people throughout developing Africa and Asia. This process is repeating itself today with mobile solar electricity, just as mobile operators are looking to the next big opportunity. We can build on all of the success of mobile operators by using the existing networks they have built to bring one of modern humanity’s most critical services to their customers. It is just the beginning of the mobile solar boom and I am proud to be joining Lumos to make their world changing mission a reality.
Craig Ehrlich is the former GSMA chairman, former Managing Director of Hutchison Cablevision, Hong Kong based Mobile Operator SUNDAY and current board member of Bharti Airtel
The views expressed by this author are their own and are not the views of The Hill.