Page 48 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Recommendations

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Recommendations

Title of recommendation Availability of high speed mobile data access on smartphones
Working Group Technology, Innovation and Competition

Workstream Mobile handsets use
Audience for recommendation Market participants in DFS

Market participants should encourage the distribution of smartphone devices that have high speed mobile data
access.

Many of the devices currently being seeded into DFS markets are of low specification compared to marquee
brands. While very affordable, they are often characterized by:

• Batteries that are mostly of low power capacity;

• Touchscreen displays that are of low resolution and relatively fragile;
• A minimum amount of RAM, just enough to run a few applications efficiently; and
• Insufficient internal storage to store more than just a few applications.

Some Android smartphones being sold by private-label distributors in the developing world markets do not
have 3G (or higher) mobile data connectivity. The retail packaging for these devices often does not identity
these devices as lacking this high-speed access.
Market participants thus should encourage:

• Distribution of smartphone devices that have high speed mobile data access, and

• Accurate descriptions of their features on retailing packaging and in marketing materials

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