Mobile’s impact on the SDGs in Asia Pacific
Mobile has scaled significantly in Asia Pacific since 2015. The number of unique subscribers and mobile connections have grown much faster than the global average, and there has been rapid uptake of mobile broadband in the region, driven by the rollout of 4G networks.
This shift towards faster network speeds, alongside a decline in prices and increase in uptake of smartphones, has ushered in a wave of new digital services in areas such as education and health that underpins mobile’s contribution to the SDGs. 5G will underpin much of the innovation and new services on mobile-based platforms in the coming years, helped by the rapid rollout and adoption of the technology.
IoT solutions also contribute to mobile’s impact on the SDGs in Asia Pacific. China is by far the largest and most developed IoT market globally. Around 70% of licenced cellular IoT connections in the region reside in China, while enterprises in China have one of the highest rates of IoT adoption globally, according to GSMA Intelligence’s enterprise survey. Demand for IoT solutions is growing in South and Southeast Asia, where mobile operators have been involved in a number of smart meter deployments[67]. These deployments improve understanding of consumption behaviours to drive efficiencies in the energy and water sectors.
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Key drivers of SDG mobile impact scores
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Source: GSMA Intelligence
Data is sourced from the GSMA Intelligence Consumers in Focus Survey. The number of users is calculated by multiplying unique mobile subscribers by the percentage of survey respondents that performed a particular activity (e.g. reading the news) on a mobile phone. Unique subscriber data is sourced from GSMA Intelligence, combining data reported by mobile operators with the annual GSMA Intelligence Consumers in Focus Survey. The percentages show the proportion of mobile users engaging in a particular activity.
Case Studies
Working towards SDG 6 through water ATMs in Bangladesh – Drinkwell
In October 2017, the GSMA Mobile for Development Utilities Innovation Fund awarded a grant to Drinkwell, in partnership with Dhaka Water Supply & Sewerage Authority (DWASA) and mobile operator Robi Axiata, to operate water ATMs in Dhaka fitted with remote monitoring technology to ensure a safe and reliable water supply.
Improving electricity grid services through smart metering - Jazz
Rubina
Rubina is the main breadwinner of the family and lives and works as a cleaner in Islamabad city, several hours away from her home town. She uses mobile money to send money home to her husband who is ill and who therefore often needs money at short notice to pay for medical expenses.
Kavita
Tonema
Tonema uses mobile internet to buy fabric and materials which she uses to create products for her clothing business. Alongside her work, she supports her family by cooking new recipes she’s learnt from watching YouTube.
Sindy
Child Growth Monitor
Welthungerhilfe’s Child Growth Monitor is a mobile app-based tool for the measurement and detection of malnutrition in children. The vision is that every child can grow up free from hunger.
JazzCash partners with Mastercard to strengthen Pakistan’s digital payment ecosystem
To truly transform the financial lives of underserved people, mobile money must become a central monetisation mechanism, universally available across a greater range of digital transactions. By making mobile money more central to the financial lives of these users, greater financial inclusion, economic empowerment and economic growth can be achieved.
Mobile money provider JazzCash provides a variety of services, including a complete mobile bank account for cash deposits, withdrawals, fund transfers and digital payments, as well as GSM services, including mobile top-ups and internet bundles. At the end of 2021, JazzCash formed a partnership with Mastercard to strengthen Pakistan’s digital payments ecosystem. The partnership means JazzCash users can apply for a physical or virtual Mastercard debit card and make payments to merchants accepting Mastercard QR payments. The new Mastercard debit card can be ordered by all JazzCash users through the mobile app, call centre or by dialling *786#.
These services can benefit both banked and unbanked users. For instance, microentrepreneurs who do not have a bank account can now use virtual cards to make purchases on global platforms such as Alibaba. Banked users can use their mobile money–enabled payment cards to potentially benefit from more favourable foreign exchange rates. Physical cards tied to a mobile money account enable account owners to pay both physical and online businesses, in addition to withdrawing cash from ATMs. In markets where accessing a bank account can be challenging for rural or low-income segments, such cards can drive financial inclusion by providing access to payment systems normally reserved for banked individuals[3].
Globe sets out roadmap to net zero
The Philippines experiences an average of 20 typhoons each year, highlighting its vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Globe Telecom recognises the importance of not only addressing climate risks but also fostering resilience in its operations in the face of ongoing climate change.
Globe’s commitment to achieve net zero by 2050 is strengthened through its enhanced network operations, which puts a focus on climate action by using renewable energy sources, adopting energy-efficient technologies and engaging suppliers for sustainable practices. This includes:
• shifting 25 high-energy sites to renewable energy (year to date)
• deploying 9,000+ green network solutions
• achieving a 4.42% reduction in overall Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions
• adopting a sustainability criteria in its procurement process.
Globe’s climate adaptation strategies and solutions help to improve site readiness, reduce network interruptions and ensure continuity of its business operations. Globe has been recognised as the ‘Most Sustainability-Driven Network’ in the Philippines, as well as one of Asia Pacific’s ‘Climate Leaders’ in 2022 and 2023.[33]
Telstra funds research to accelerate digital inclusion in remote Australia
While most Australian cities enjoy excellent internet access, there remains a broad ‘digital gap’ between urban and regional areas, which is even more pronounced in the country’s 1,100 First Nations remote communities. The latest Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII) and Mapping the Digital Gap (MTDG) data confirms that while digital ability is relatively high across the MTDG sample of remote First Nations communities, access and affordability remain low. The same data shows that 86% of First Nations people primarily use mobile phones for calls and internet use, 90% of whom are using prepaid services.
Since 2015, the ADII has provided an annual scorecard of digital inclusion across Australia, through three lenses: affordability, access and digital ability. In 2023, for the first time, the ADII – which is a collaboration between Telstra and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society – is incorporating the initial findings of a four-year project in 11 remote communities. The findings present a compelling picture of how infrastructure, affordability of services and unstable income keep thousands of people disconnected from essential services. In addition to providing unprecedented data for policymakers and the industry, the project supports communities to develop local ‘Digital Inclusion Plans’ with community-led strategies to address identified challenges.
MTDG is a critical piece of research that will back decades of research, trials and programmes to improve digital literacy and digital inclusion for Australia’s remote communities. This year, the Australian government established a First Nations Digital Inclusion Advisory Group (with an MTDG member co-chairing), and in April announced an additional $25 million for First Nations communities through its Regional Connectivity Program. This has led to proposals for more community mentors, alternative digital solutions, digital training and free public Wi-Fi. Telstra has also made all its public telephones free.
Telenor and Ericsson enable flood donations in Pakistan
Pakistan received more than three times its usual rainfall in August 2022, causing floods across the country. The devastating floods, linked to climate change, impacted over 33 million people, destroyed 1.7 million homes and led to nearly 1,500 deaths and caused economic losses of over $30 billion.
The people impacted by floods required substantial financial support from both local and global communities to rebuild their lives. Many countries and international charitable organisations provided monetary assistance to Pakistan for flood relief. However, it is not always easy to donate to trusted relief funds in Pakistan. It is critical to choose the right payment method that is quick, convenient and secure.
Easypaisa – a digital payments app in Pakistan with 14 million users, powered by Ericsson's Wallet Platform – enabled its users to donate in a few clicks, without any hassle, by introducing a flood relief and donations payment service.
This convenient donation feature enabled Easypaisa users to donate to 30 humanitarian organisations and support flood relief efforts. From June to November 2022, more than 400,000 donation transactions were processed by Easypaisa facilitating collections of donations, worth over PKR100 million. Most of the donations were leveraged by the relief organisations to provide essentials to people impacted by the floods and to support them in rebuilding their lives.
Singtel Group empowers vulnerable communities through digital enablement initiatives
Societies today have become highly reliant on digital access for communication and essential services. Singtel is cognisant that vulnerable communities in Singapore, such as seniors and low-income families, lack the resources or skills to keep up with such technological advancements and risk being excluded digitally, while youth are facing increasing cyber threats.
Singtel Group has worked together with its partners to curate a suite of digital enablement initiatives that bridge the digital divide for vulnerable groups and foster digital wellbeing and online safety. Singtel’s Donate Your Data and Donate Your Device programmes enable customers to donate their unused data and devices to vulnerable seniors and low-income families. The operator supports Help123, a cyber wellness and digital parenting platform, with online resources and a hotline to help parents better protect young people from online dangers. Moreover, the Singtel Digital Silvers programme enables vulnerable seniors to stay digitally connected and feel a sense of community through one-on-one tutorials to build digital literacy.
Singtel has digitally enabled more than 840,000 people since 2015, with a target of 1 million people by 2025. Over the past year, the operator has reached out through Singtel Digital Silvers to over 300 seniors, who have gained more confidence in using mobile devices to navigate the digital world, while over 7,000 seniors have benefited from free digital access from data donated by Singtel customers. Meanwhile, 957 kg of devices was collected, refurbished and distributed to low-income families. Moreover, Help123 empowered 4,000 parents and children through workshops.
Reliance Jio drives circularity through novel waste management approach
Reliance Jio aims to reduce its Scope 3 emissions by 66.5% by 2028, using the 2020 as a base a reference point. The company has also committed to achieving net zero by 2035. To attain these ambitious goals, an emphasis has been placed on resource conservation, effective waste management and maintaining low operating costs.
Jio follows a hierarchical approach to waste management, prioritising reusing and repairing over recycling and recovery. Jio has devised innovative ideas to enhance the lifecycle of batteries, electronic cards and rectifiers.
For instance, when batteries reach the end of their life, Jio disassembles them and retrieves the viable cells. After testing these cells, they are reassembled into modules with reduced capacity. These reassembled modules are then deployed in locations that require lower-battery backup, thereby minimising the need for new modules. Similarly, defective electronic cards and rectifiers undergo testing and their functional components are recovered and reassembled as repaired equipment, ready for reuse.
These initiatives have enabled Jio to reuse around 50% of end-of-life batteries, around 25% of defective electronic cards and roughly 40% of defective rectifiers over the past 12 months. This has allowed the operator to generate $42 million in saving from avoiding replacements, resulting in a 35,000 tCO2e reduction in emissions.
eFishery and Telkomsel collaborate on smart fisheries
With annual aquaculture production of more than 5 million metric tons, Indonesia has the third-largest aquaculture output globally, behind only China and India.[56] While this output is significant, Indonesia’s aquaculture sector has yet to reach its full potential. Over 80% of the country’s 3.3 million aquaculture fishers and fish farmers still use manual methods. [57]
eFishery is a smart livestock management startup based in Indonesia that has developed an automatic fish feeder using NB-IoT technology from Telkomsel. It schedules fish feeding times, checks on water quality and monitors fish behaviour.
eFishery was supported by a grant from the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund to extend its value proposition to fish and shrimp farmers by adding more features to its product offerings, including a farm management feature and a financing dashboard that will connect farmers to financial institutions.
eFishery’s solution offers several benefits to farmers and the environment: it lowers the risk of overfeeding, reduces water pollution and enables farmers to stay updated on the fish’s condition wherever they are. The company has deployed thousands of feeders to serve more than 30,000 fish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia. It is aiming to have more than 1 million members of its ‘digital cooperative’ globally by 2025. [58]
56 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, FAO, 2022
57 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, FAO, 2018
58 “Indonesia’s eFishery raises another USD 108 million, valuation surpasses USD 1 billion”, SeafoodSource, June 2023
China Mobile and ZTE use 5G to power smart tea plantation
The world needs to increase sustainable food production to support a growing population in a cost effective manner, but farmers face a number of hurdles. Large amounts of marginal or depleted land cannot be cultivated economically using traditional methods, while urban migration has led to labour shortages in many agricultural areas.
China Mobile and ZTE have developed a 5G-enabled farm management solution that is designed to use water, fertiliser, fuel and seeds as efficiently as possible while dramatically lowering labour costs. The solution brings together a smart irrigation system (which optimises the supply of water), remote control of farm vehicles and 5G-connected drones that can monitor the health of crops. A worker located in the farmhouse can use the 5G connectivity to remotely control between three to five machines simultaneously, significantly boosting productivity.
According to ZTE, automated farming in the trial site in Jilin Province in 2022 yielded economic benefits of CNY3.3 million ($460,000) through a 10% increase in output, together with savings in materials and labour costs.[61] The smart irrigation system uses 40% less water than a conventional system and unmanned tractors are 50% more efficient than a conventional tractor, according to ZTE.
