One of the more famous quotes by the late Nelson Mandela says “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. But if you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” This saying rings especially true in the mobile industry – which is why Mozilla and the GSM Association (GSMA) have recently announced a project to investigate ways of encouraging local content and services that will encourage billions of people who currently do not use the internet to get online.

Four billion people around the world are not online and 90% of that number are living in developing countries. “In the wealthier parts of the world, the internet has touched ordinary citizens and the technologically savvy alike. However, only a minority of the world’s citizens have been included to date,” said the GSMA.

One of the main reasons behind this is a lack of relevant content that has a sufficient understanding of specific cultural contexts, local conditions and the needs of local populations. English is the primary language of the internet, but less than 5% of the world’s population speak it as a first language, with only 21% estimated to have some level of understanding, the GSMA stated.

Some of the world’s most widely spoken languages, such as Arabic or Hindi, account for a relatively small proportion of the web’s content (0.8% and less than 0.1% respectively). “An internet that is available to more people is a welcome
development, but increased access alone will not solve these issues. A more dispersed digital content ecosystem, in terms of how content is created, distributed and monetized will also be needed,” added the association.

Over the next six to 12 months, the GSMA and Mozilla will explore potential solutions to this issue among others through projects focussed on low-cost smartphones, digital literacy training and local content., with initial field tests in Bangladesh, Kenya, Brazil and India are currently underway and the two partners looking for interested organisations from any country to register interest to try their approach in their communities and networks of users.

“We believe that addressing the local content issue has the potential to lead to an increase subscribers, customer loyalty and data revenues, as well as stimulate a culture of innovation across the industry,” said the GSMA.

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