The importance of mobile network operators (MNOs) who are currently investing in mobile agriculture services (m-agri) to view and utilize their investments as part of the wider “mServices strategy” that includes m-health, m-financial services, m-education, m-governance, m-women, etc came up in the just ended mFarmer and e-Agriculture online discussion.

“As competition between operators continues to escalate, the large rural customer base (a great deal of whom are farmers in the markets we are talking about) represents a sizeable business opportunity for MNOs” said an expert.

This comes as new developments are taking place with mobile financial services across the continent of Africa that has a huge market for all kinds of mobile services. Orange, one of the most prolific mobile financial services provider, is expanding further via a new partnership with Western Union to better meet the mobile services needs of its customers in Africa and Middle East.

The service will allow users to carry out simple banking operations and transactions in total security including money transfers – where users can send money using their phone to any Orange mobile customer in the country; payments – giving users an easier way to pay their electricity, water, television or phones bills, as well as providing a simple way to buy mobile phone credit from any location; and financial services – including solutions facilitating savings and insurance.

While all these services seem “financial”, analysts see the general penetration of mobile technology into the developing world as a great opportunity to facilitate services in other sectors such as governance, healthcare, education, agriculture, rural development, water and sanitation, and the overall economic development. Good partnerships among MNOs and between MNOs and other service providers that focus on the wider services should be the target for all.

GSMA has already initiated a number of programs that call for collaboration to leverage resources to better deliver these mobile services to the millions of rural folks currently left unconnected. Examples include:

m-Health service such as supporting community health workers in gathering and managing health information; capturing and analyzing data for disease surveillance; providing remote diagnoses via telemedicine; improving access to health information and resources through health hotlines; facilitating health education, training and emergency support; coordinating drug and medical supply distribution; enhancing rapid disease testing via mobile phone microscopy applications.

m-Farmer service aimed at driving scalable, replicable and commercially successful mFarmer Services; building services that impact farmers’ income and productivity; reducing the barriers for operators to launch or improve mFarmer Services; testing and proving models for delivering mFarmer Services via mobile phones; and promoting a culture of knowledge sharing in the mFarmer ecosystem.

m-Women service with the objectives of increasing access to mobile phones for 150 million women who live at the base of the pyramid over the next three years and leveraging the mobile channel to improve the socio-economic status of women across the developing world.

m-Learning service that will provide access to or deliver educational content and experiences through mobile devices using a number of technologies including Bluetooth, GSM/GPRS/3G, WiFi or WiMAX, via various mediums with the ability to learn anytime, anywhere.

It is time for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to take advantage of these opportunities to maximize revenue for their investments and increase their social development impact on the society, especially the remote communities.