Back in my day, we had to walk 10 miles uphill just to charge our cell phones . . .

While this may seem ludicrous to most of us, for the people of Karaj this is just a way of life. It’s one of the downsides of living in a small Indian village without electricity. What’s more interesting than the distance that they have to travel to power their phones is why anyone in the world would actually do this.

I Would Walk 500 Miles…

As it turns out Karaj also suffers from seasonal monsoons and cellular access can be a life saver when they have few other means of communicating with far away family and friends.

This raises a good point for anyone thinking about moving into mobile space. In the developing world, cellular technology is a lot more about bridging the distances between people than the kind of feature creep that usually marks the industry in the developed world.

That means that there are fertile and mostly untapped markets opening in countries like India and South Africa waiting for anyone who can solve these kinds of practical problems.

Here are a few more to consider.

• Spotty access to electricity.
• Poor network coverage in remote areas.
• A la carte cellular access for those who do not need monthly service plans.
• Stripped down but rugged cellular devices for harsh conditions.

Just a few things to think about the next time you plug in your mobile.

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