The point is this. We in the developed world see bank accounts and credit cards as a way of life. However, credit systems, which give communications access to the rest of the world wireless or Internet access are alarmingly absent in the developing world. In China there are 100 million prepaid cards in circulation, and only 50 million cell phones. More than half of all cellular minutes in South America are now bought with prepaid cards.
Prepaid cards are a software device that simply bypasses the credit qualification process.
They can be purchased at the corner shop, require no bank account, no proof of identity, no address, and are sold for wireless phones all over the world. Indeed, prepaid cards have been the unsung heroes in the amazing penetration of wireless phones in the developing world, with sales rising from less than a billion dollars in 1995 to an estimated five times that amount this year. Nevertheless, the credit problem stands as the critical barrier to web penetration and the global distribution of content and services via the new medium of our age. I have personally committed funding and time to an effort with a small company based in India to try to tackle this problem. But even an angel has his limits.