Movirtu to Launch Cloud Phone Service for the Poor

Three million or more poor people in Africa and Asia will get mobile phone numbers under a plan developed by the United Nations and a private technology firm, Movirtu. The UN's Business Call to Action initiative plans to supply low-cost mobile phone numbers to participants, who can use any mobile phone to log in with their own number to make and receive calls and access information and services. The main beneficiaries will be women in rural communities in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, as they are far less likely than men to have their own phones. Movirtu, a UK-based startup, will bring the phone technology to 12 or more markets in the selected regions by early 2013, improving the lives and expanding the earning potential of at least 50 million people. The company selected the island nation of Madagascar, off Africa's eastern coast, as a starting point. Madagascar has an extensive network but many people in the country can't afford to buy a phone. The service became available via a local carrier throughout the island on Monday.

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