Malaysian Electric Utilities Seek U.S. Partners to Help Decarbonize the Country's Energy Sector

As noted in previous posts in this Forum, I am optimistic about the commercial opportunities that U.S. companies that are looking to sell their services and products in Southeast Asia. Among the ten nations that comprise the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), I recommend that American business owners and corporate executives look closely commercial opportunities in ASEAN's six largest economies (data provided by the International Monetary Fund): Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

The Malaysia Country Commercial Guide, which is a useful resource produced by the International Trade Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, explains that "Malaysia is an upper middle-income economy with a population of over 34 million. The country's growing affluent middle class increasingly drives consumer and business demand for quality goods and services. U.S. products and brands are favorably viewed and enjoy a strong presence in many sectors, including technology, machinery, electronics, medical equipment, and franchising."

What is more, "U.S. exporters looking to expand their market presence in Malaysia can benefit from the country's developed infrastructure, an English-speaking business and consumer environment, a well-established legal framework, and the ability to repatriate capital and profits. Malaysia is generally considered an easy and cost-competitive market for doing business. The United States is Malaysia's third-largest trading partner, and U.S. exports of goods to Malaysia were valued at over $18 billion in 2022." The U.S. Department of State also points out that "Malaysia is the United States' 17th largest trading partner and the second-largest trading partner among the 10 ASEAN members, after Vietnam."

Considering my optimism about ASEAN's economic opportunities and interest in employing technologies to mitigate the consequences resulting from global warming, I attended the Malaysia Smart Grid Technologies Reverse Trade Mission (RTM) on May 1st, 2024 in Millbrae, Calif. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), which helps companies create U.S. jobs through the export of U.S. goods and services for priority infrastructure projects in emerging economies, sponsored this event. Delegates of the RTM included representatives of agencies within the Malaysian governments and executives from Malaysian energy utilities. Representatives from the USTDA and the U.S. Commercial Service were also in attendance at the event held just outside of San Francisco.

A delegate from the Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) said the Malaysian multinational electricity company is the only electric utility company in Peninsular Malaysia and is the largest publicly listed power company in Southeast Asia. Serving over 10 million customers throughout Peninsular Malaysia (except Sarawak) and the East Malaysian state of Sabah, TNB's core activities are in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. The presentation also highlighted how renewables are expected to grow significantly, with Malaysia targeting 70 percent of its 2050 installed capacity. Advancements in storage technologies are making renewables more dispatchable.

While not part of the presentation, TNB's most recent sustainability report explains:

We have been making progress in rolling out the adoption of a Smart Grid as part of our Grid of the Future (GoTF) initiatives. GoTF aims to improve the grid flexibility with two-pronged objectives - to allow for better services to our customers and enable higher growth of Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) and Distributed Energy Resources (DER). TNB has achieved a Smart Grid Index (SGI) score of 71.4% in FY2022, which demonstrates significant improvement of 19.4% from 2019. Moving forward, under our Smart Utility 2025 Masterplan, we target to achieve a score of 85% by 2025. Through the establishment of this ambitious target, we aim to facilitate the integration of clean energy into our electricity grid and enable efficient management and utilization of resources. These endeavors will help drive the pace of our decarbonization efforts and renewable energy initiatives to achieve our net zero aspiration.

 

Source: www.tnb.com.my/sustainability

Attendees then heard a presentation by Sarawak Energy Berhad, which is state owned electric utility company of the State of Sarawak. Sarawak Energy's vision is to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for Sarawak by meeting the region's need for reliable and renewable energy—providing electricity to 3 million Sarawakians in urban and rural areas. Furthermore, the utility aims to ensure all rural communities including the most remote and inaccessible upriver communities have access to constant electricity supply. Using micro-hydro, which is the small-scale harnessing of energy from falling water such as that from steep mountain rivers, and solar hybrids, Sarawak Energy has a goal to help more than 30,000 rural household achieve full electrification by 2025. Sarawak Energy is also making progress in becoming a regional power house as the utility exports power to the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan.

Source: www.sarawakenergy.com/about-us

According to the aforementioned country commercial guide, "The Malaysian government is seeking ways to grow its national grid to be a smart, automated, digitally-enabled grid. Malaysia is looking for solutions that ensure greater cost efficiency, reliability, and customer satisfaction than can be achieved with centralized grids. Market opportunities for U.S. companies exist for smart meters, grid technologies and systems, and transmission & distribution systems." I appreciate how this business briefing provided an opportunity for U.S. entities to meet with a delegation of decision-makers from Malaysia interested in learning more about U.S. smart grid technologies and best practices for cybersecurity, distribution networks, and storage solutions for the power sector.

What opportunities are you seeing in ASEAN's renewable energy sector?

Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of GT Perspectives, an online forum focused on turning perspective into opportunity.

A Toolkit for Startups in the Utilities Sector Seeking to Partner With the Public Sector

"Cities in low-and middle-income countries are home to one billion people lacking access to affordable, reliable, safe, and sustainable utility services," Max Cuvellier, GSMA's Head of Mobile for Development, writes in the Forward of a toolkit that was created for startups in the utilities sector that are seeking to partner with the public sector. He adds: "This urban service gap is being exacerbated by rapid urbanization, climate change and widening inequalities posing complex challenges to city authorities, municipalities, and utility service providers."

In its press release announcing the publication of the toolkit, the GSMA, a UK-based organization that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, notes: "Partnerships between start-ups and the public sector have emerged as an innovative and impactful way to address critical gaps in essential urban services – particularly when it comes to reaching low-income urban populations in informal settlements. They have the potential to combine the technology, innovative financing, and agility of start-up ventures with the public sector’s scale, service mandate, and resources."

The GSMA's announcement further says: "Over the last decade, through the GSMA Innovation Fund, we have supported more than 100 start-ups and SMEs working across LMICs. In that time, we have observed how central partnerships are to startups' scaling journeys and wider social impact. We have also seen how partnership formation between stakeholders with different organizational cultures, time horizons, and strategic priorities can pose challenges. Meanwhile, there has been little research and few resources tailored towards start-ups and early-stage private sector innovators pursuing partnerships with the public sector."

This toolkit therefore aims to:

1. Highlight the role of start-up-public sector collaboration in the context of the many challenges facing cities in LMICs;
2. To provide a conceptual framework of how to think through, frame, and define startup-public sector partnerships;
3. To offer practical tips and tools to startups navigating these complex partnerships; and
4. To highlight additional resources that might be relevant to those aiming to catalyze startup public sector collaboration.

The toolkit presents the following conclusions:

• Innovation: Digital solutions have demonstrated their value for improving urban services in LMICs. However, more innovation is needed to develop business models that can be deployed on a wide scale and account for the financial constraints of utilities and municipalities, as well the needs of low-income customers.
• Urbanization and climate change: Though the startup-public sector partnership landscape for improved urban utility services is still nascent, trends such as rapid urbanization, urbanization without structural formation, and climate change will mean that municipalities and public utilities will have to collaborate with startups and private sector innovators to close the urban service divide. While there has been more attention placed on the opportunities related to startup-public sector partnerships for urban utility services, it is also clear that there are many barriers to such partnership models, particularly when it comes to taking such partnership models to scale.
• Pioneers and challenges: Examples in countries that have pioneered these partnerships such as Kenya, India, and Bangladesh highlight that start-up-public sector partnerships can support cities in making urban utility service delivery more affordable, reliable, safe, and sustainable. Despite these successes, it is important for startups to be aware of the challenges and complexities associated with public sector collaboration, and better assess where synergies with the public sector lie and how their service can support the public sector in meeting its objectives.
• Collaboration: This toolkit sought to highlight the role of startup-public sector collaboration in the context of many challenges facing cities in LMICs (Section 1), provide a conceptual framework of how to think through, frame, and define startup-public sector partnerships (Section 2), offer practical tips and tools to start-ups navigating these complex partnerships (Section 3), and highlight additional resources that might be relevant to those aiming to catalyze startup-public sector collaboration (Section 4). Given how nascent many partnerships and the wider start-up public sector ecosystem are, it will be critical to continue to conduct research on the developmental, commercial, and social impact of these innovative partnerships, and use case studies to generate granular insights.
• Drivers for change: Trends will continue to drive startup-public sector partnerships for improved urban utility service provision. These include increasing devolution and public sector programs that encourage and incentivize startup participation in urban service delivery, the increased relevance and maturity of circular economy use cases, increased adoption and availability of frontier technologies and digital payments, as well as increased availability of funders and funding models to support multi-stakeholder partnerships.
• Digital Utilities Partnership Hub: The GSMA Digital Utilities program convenes startups, relevant public sector organizations such as state-owned utilities, and other relevant corporates such as MNOs to catalyze innovative partnerships and collaboration for urban utility service provision. Alongside this toolkit, the GSMA Digital Utilities program is launching the Digital Utilities Partnership Hub. The hub is GSMA's comprehensive source of information on the role of digital solutions and innovative partnerships for improved urban service delivery, highlighting key insights and case studies from our work with public and private sector stakeholders over the last decade.
• Support: The GSMA Digital Utilities program is committed to supporting startups and their public sector partners aiming to form, sustain, and scale partnerships for improved urban utility service delivery. To achieve GSMA's objectives, the program engages in:
• De-risking and catalyzing innovative urban utility services: Providing grants to private sector innovators to test and demonstrate the role of digital urban service solutions;
• Research and insights: Generate rigorous evidence on innovative solutions to essential service provision by gathering insights from Innovation Fund grantees and conducting research with partner organizations with deep expertise in utility service provision; Partnership facilitation and convening of key ecosystem stakeholders: Drive replication and scale through convenings and leveraging our own networks as well as those of key partners who work to enable similar solutions; and
• Technical advice to MNOs, municipalities, and utility service providers: Provide advice on the role of digital innovation for improved utility service provision and insights on how to achieve multi-stakeholder partnerships.
• Enabling Forums: GSMA's market engagement team is looking forward to convening public sector stakeholders and startups for our next digital urban utility forums in Bangladesh and Kenya in Q4, and GSMA's program is looking forward to leveraging their strategic partnerships with key enablers and funders such as Imagine H2O Asia, the International Water Association, GOGLA, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the World Resources Institute and other partners to continue to drive public-private collaboration to close the urban service divide.

Do you see value in this toolkit for startups in the utilities sector? What recommendations do you have for how startups and the public sector can partner?

​Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of GT Perspectives, an online forum focused on turning perspective into opportunity.

Economic Contribution of Latin America's Mobile Ecosystem Will Grow by More Than $30 Billion by 2025

According to its GSMA Intelligence's latest report on the state of the mobile economy in Latin America, the research arm of the GSM Association (GSMA), a UK-based organization that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, says "The mobile industry in Latin America continues to play a crucial role in the response to Covid-19. Mobile networks have enabled social and economic activities to continue. People have relied on the internet to stay connected to friends and family, access educational and health services, and work remotely."

Growth in subscriber penetration and smartphone adoption remains strong, the report notes. GSMA Intelligence estimates Latin America will have 485 million unique mobile subscribers by 2025 (73% of the population), up from nearly 450 million by the end of 2021. "Around half of new subscribers will come from Brazil and Mexico during this period. There will also be strong growth in underpenetrated markets such as Guatemala and Honduras."

The report, which is available in English and español, importantly adds:

Smartphone connections in Latin America will reach 500 million at the end of 2021 – an adoption rate of 74%. The next four years will see almost 100 million additional smartphone connections in the region, taking adoption above 80%. This will spur mobile internet adoption, enabling more people to access digital services for the first time. These achievements will be underpinned by operators' continued investment in network infrastructure. Between 2020 and 2025, mobile operators in Latin America will invest more than $73 billion in their networks, with an increasing share of this 5G-related.

While 4G continues to dominate the Latin American market, accounting for close to 70 percent of total connections at the end of 2025, the report encouragingly asserts that "5G momentum is building, with further commercial 5G services launched in 2021." GSMA Intelligence points out that "While mobile operators wait for access to new spectrum, they are laying the groundwork for the 5G era through investments in accompanying infrastructure, such as fiber, and partnerships to trial and develop new applications."

On the topic of the mobile industry driving economic growth and social development, the report explains that "In 2020, mobile technologies and services generated 7.1% of GDP in Latin America – a contribution that amounted to more than $340 billion of economic value added." Moreover, "The mobile ecosystem also supported more than 1.6 million jobs (directly and indirectly) and made a substantial contribution to the funding of the public sector, with more than $29 billion raised through taxes on the sector in 2020. By 2025, the economic contribution of the Latin American mobile ecosystem will grow by more than $30 billion, as countries in the region increasingly benefit from the improvements in productivity and efficiency brought about by the increased take-up of mobile services."

On the transformation of the enterprise sector, GSMA Intelligence says "As a result of mobile operator activity and partnerships, total IoT connections in Latin America will amass at a hastening pace, reaching close to 1.2 billion in 2025. Growth will be relatively faster in the enterprise IoT market, with a notable increase in the adoption of smart buildings solutions (forecast to record a CAGR of 24% between 2020 and 2025)." Furthermore, "IoT applications have the power to make a meaningful contribution to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by facilitating carbon emissions reductions, while improving safety and supporting economic development."

Lastly, the report discusses decisions policymakers in Latin American can make to help shape the connected society. "The pandemic has emphasized the need for connectivity and the critical role of mobile technology. Now is the time for governments to reassess the business and regulatory environment for mobile services in order to accelerate investment and innovation for a connected society."

Infographic: GSMA Intelligence

What opportunities are you seeing in Latin America's mobile economy?

Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of GT Perspectives, an online forum focused on turning perspective into opportunity.

Report Explores How Mobile and Digital Technology Can Support Industry Decarbonization

According to a report conducted GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of the GSMA, a UK-based organization that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, "The use of mobile and digital technology is a key enabler of the decarbonization transition. Telecoms operators, vendors and supporting ecosystem partners play a key role in the move to digital and low-carbon economies, particularly where it involves the enterprise segment and asset-intensive sectors using technology to lower emissions." Supported Nokia, a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics company, Industry pathways to net zero: mobile and digital technology in support of industry decarbonization outlines "a high-level quantification of decarbonization and associated strategies for four key industries that account for 80% of global emissions – manufacturing, power and energy, transport, and buildings." The report also outlines "a set of forward-looking implications."

Addressing how smarter use of mobile and digital technology results in carbon savings, the report explains that the "implementation of specific mobile and digital technologies could result in substantial CO2 savings for each industry. In aggregate, the savings enabled by the technologies amount to just under 40% (equivalent to 11 gigatons) of the carbon emissions savings that these industries will need to achieve over the next decade, assuming an end goal of net zero by 2050." I appreciate how GSMA Intelligence puts this in perspective at an industry level:

• The annual global CO2 savings from smart manufacturing would equate to 28 million roundtrip flights from London to Los Angeles.
• The potential CO2 savings from using smart meters in North American residential premises would be enough to power 25 million homes (20% of households in the US) for a year.
• The savings from the switch to electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide would equate to removing 180 million petrol-fueled cars from roads over the next 10 years.

With respect to the specific technologies of IoT, LTE and 5G, the report imparts that "Digitization and decarbonization are enabled by a range of mobile connectivity products and network services working in sync with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning algorithms in the cloud to drive productivity gains." GSMA Intelligence highlights ways "IoT sensors, LTE and 5G connectivity (including for private networks) are being deployed across the industries profiled in this analysis, along with a raft of other solutions."

• In manufacturing, smart factories are underpinned by IoT sensors, robotics and AI that automate dynamic shifts to production capacity and the remote repair of machine faults. This reduces reliance on manual labor, increases productivity and lowers overall factory energy consumption and emissions compared to premises not fitted with these technologies.
• In buildings, intelligent architectural design and the use of sustainable materials in the construction process are augmented by smart electricity and gas systems that optimize the use of energy based on occupancy levels and prevailing external climatic conditions. In homes, smart electricity meters are linked to smart home controls through a central interface that can offer energy savings of up to 5% and, in some cases, the ability to sell excess energy from the consumer to the grid.
• In transport, the use of on-board cellular telematics can improve shipping fuel efficiency and enable a more optimized model for cargo arrivals and departures from ports, due to reductions in idling time and better coordination with trucks for onward distribution of goods.

Having followed the rise of IoT and 5G mobile technology over the past few years, I concur that the "ubiquity of mobile and digital technologies in these examples demonstrates their ability to deliver greater energy efficiency and productivity for industries globally. This requires a long-term and holistic investment approach."

On the benefits of digitization going beyond decarbonization, GSMA Intelligence points out that "While industry decarbonization can help mitigate the risks of global warming, there are other important socioeconomic benefits." Examples include the following:

• Public health outcomes – Reducing CO2 in the power sector will result in lower concentrations of harmful particulate matter and gases such as nitrogen dioxide. A similar effect is expected to prevail as electric vehicles replace petrol- and diesel-fueled cars, and through a higher share of the population working at home.
• Economic diversification – Moving to digital operating models in industries such as manufacturing and transport will create new jobs and sources of national value growth. Digital operating models can also increase access to public services and civic engagement.
• Productivity – Digitization drives fundamental improvements in productivity, which form the basis of new business models across industries.

Lastly, GSMA Intelligence asserts that its "research demonstrates the clear, practical and beneficial impact of using mobile and digital technologies in the largest and most relied upon industries. These are, in the main, ready-made options." The research organization importantly adds that "While investment outlays and deployment costs are required (a particular challenge for smaller companies), these will decrease over time as scale grows. The long-term return on investment from a financial perspective (higher productivity) and sustainability angle (lower emissions) is highly significant. Market participants in the telecoms, media and technology sectors are unique in being both suppliers and consumers of the technologies. In this capacity, we hope this report and ensuing industry case studies add to the best practice driving decarbonization in the years ahead."

How do you think mobile and digital technology can support industry's path to decarbonization?

Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of GT Perspectives, an online forum focused on turning perspective into opportunity.

GSMA: '5G Has Arrived – but 4G Is Still King'

According to a report authored by GSMA Intelligence, the research and consulting arm of the GSMA, a UK-based trade organization, "5G will drive future innovation and economic growth, delivering greater societal benefit than any previous mobile generation and allowing new digital services and business models to thrive."

The Mobile Economy 2020 further explains: "Many countries have already launched 5G, but widespread commercial 5G services are expected in the post-2020 period, which will mark the start of the 5G era. 5G is developing in parallel with rapid advancements in both AI [artificial intelligence] and IoT [Internet of Things]; the combination of these technologies will have a large positive impact, spawning innovations for consumers and enterprises defined by highly contextualized, on-demand and personalized experiences."

As highlighted in this press release, GSMA Intelligence's report reveals that:

"5G has arrived – but 4G is still king: 4G was the world's dominant mobile technology last year, supporting more than half (52 percent) of global connections. Despite the emergence of 5G, 4G will continue to grow over the coming years, increasing to account for 56 percent of connections by 2025.

"The industry is investing heavily in 5G: Mobile operators are expected to spend $1.1 trillion worldwide between 2020 and 2025 in mobile CAPEX, roughly 80 percent of which will be on 5G networks.

"The smartphone is becoming ubiquitous: Smartphones are forecast to account for four of every five connections by 2025, up from 65 percent in 2019.

"IoT will be an integral part of the 5G era: Between 2019 and 2025, the number of global IoT connections will more than double to almost 25 billion, while global IoT revenue will more than triple to $1.1 trillion.

"Subscriber growth is slowing, but the industry still has people to connect: The number of unique mobile subscribers at the end of last year stood at 5.2 billion (67 percent of the population) and is forecast to grow to 5.8 billion by 2025 (70 percent).

"Half the planet connected to the mobile internet: Almost half of the global population (3.8 billion people) are now mobile internet users, forecast to reach 61 percent (5 billion) by 2025."

Regarding connected devices, "The business case for IoT is shifting from just connecting devices to addressing specific problems or needs with solutions to collect, process and integrate data from multiple sources, which can then be analyzed to create value and provide actionable insight." Furthermore, "Enterprise IoT connections will overtake consumer in 2024, and will almost triple between 2019 and 2025 to reach 13.3 billion. This will account for just over half of all IoT connections in 2025.

"Consumer IoT connections will almost double to 11.4 billion in the same time frame. More and more devices include connectivity built in by default and interoperability within the ecosystem is increasing."

The report also explains that smart manufacturing and autonomous cars are important verticals for 5G and presents the following use cases for the former:

Robots and robotics

• 5G increasingly complements Wi‑Fi in factories
• Real-time AI-powered robot collaboration and integration
• Cloud-based wireless robotics

Labor augmentation

• 5G and AI-powered industrial AR, enabling workforce training and augmenting human skills
• High precision simulations of human-machine interactions in various manufacturing situations

Remote real-time manufacturing

• Live remote monitoring and reconfiguration of robots and processes
• Remote quality inspection

Connected operational intelligence and analytics

• 5G coupled with AI enables real‑time data gathering to inform immediate manufacturing decisions
• AI-based analytics for processes, inefficiencies and predictive maintenance for robots

On the topic of mobile delivering social impact, the report says: "With more than 5 billion unique subscribers worldwide, and more than 7 billion people covered by a mobile network, mobile is increasingly being used to access an array of life-enhancing services that contribute to and catalyze the achievement of the UN SDGs."

"Despite the global reach of mobile," however, "much more can be done to leverage its power and support the delivery of the SDG 2030 targets. Crucial to this will be helping people realize the full benefits of using mobile and mobile internet services in terms of accessing health information, public services and digital payments, both in developed and developing countries. New technologies that are supported by IoT also need to achieve scale if mobile operators are to maximize their impact on the SDGs – for example, solutions in smart cities that can reduce pollution, and smart buildings and homes that can increase energy efficiency."

Infographic: GSMA Intelligence

While 4G remains the world's dominant mobile technology, "5G is gaining pace." Companies of all sizes are increasing their research and development budgets to build products and services to utilize the fifth generation wireless technology that is expected to deliver speeds 100x faster than 4G. However, for these investments to produce positive results, the report correctly notes that "Governments and regulators must play their part to help propel 5G into commercial use by implementing policies that encourage advanced technologies (e.g. AI and IoT) to be applied across all economic sectors."

What do you think of the report's findings?

Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of GT Perspectives, an online forum focused on turning perspective into opportunity.

Report Explores the Impact of Mobile Communications Technologies on Carbon Emission Reductions

According to a report jointly produced by the GSMA, a trade association, and the Carbon Trust, a London-based climate advocacy organization, "Mobile communications technology has revolutionized how we live, with its influence rapidly extending to new markets and sectors at an ever-increasing rate."

The report, The Enablement Effect: The impact of mobile communications technologies on carbon emission reductions, further asserts: "With the high levels of connectivity and data sharing, mobile is having extensive spill over benefits, opening up possibilities for innovative forms of emissions reductions."

The Executive Summary notes that "[t]he report offers context and provides a high-level analysis of six categories of enabling mechanisms, along with case studies.

"The six different categories are:

• Smart Buildings
• Smart Energy
• Smart Living, Working, and Health
• Smart Transport and Cities
• Smart Agriculture
• Smart Manufacturing

What is more, "This is the first time a report has attempted to assess the enablement impact of mobile communications technology at a global scale. To quantify the total global avoided emissions, 14 countries (in six regions) were identified as a representative global sample from which to extrapolate. This sample consists of France, UK, Spain, Germany, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, South Korea, China, India, Brazil, Mexico, US, and Australia."

In explaining its main findings, the report says "Two forms of enablement were assessed; smart technologies connecting one machine to another (M2M technologies), also known as the internet of things (IoT), and behavior changes from the personal use of smartphones.

"The majority of avoided emissions from M2M technologies are primarily in buildings, transport, manufacturing, and the energy sector:

• Savings in buildings are a result of technologies that improve energy efficiency and encourage behavior change, reducing gas and electricity consumption. Among these technologies are building management systems and smart meters.
• Mobile communication technology enables the reduction of transport emissions in various ways. It acts as a catalyst for the increase in electric vehicles by facilitating the use of charging points, and, through telematics, creates an improvement in route optimization and vehicle fuel efficiency.
• Within manufacturing, the use of mobile technology for storage and inventory management greatly reduces the overall level of inventory and area needed, increasing efficiency and decreasing energy use for lighting and cooling.
• Smart grids within the energy sector utilize mobile communications technology to help monitor and regulate electricity demand and transmission, to improve coordination and distribution efficiency. Additionally, small-scale renewable electricity generators are able to participate in the wider market by using M2M connections, increasing the amount of green and local energy in the national grid."

Moreover, "To analyse the use of smartphones to facilitate behavior change, the Carbon Trust commissioned a global survey study of more than 6,000 smartphone users in the UK, China, India, USA, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa. From this research, significant avoided emissions were seen in the areas of:

• Reduced travel for commuting and for leisure
• Increased use of public transport by using apps providing real-time updates
• Accommodation sharing for short stays and holidays
• Reducing travel by use of mobile shopping and mobile banking apps"

The report adds that "[c]ategories of enablement such as agriculture and health are not currently showing a significant impact on avoided emissions. However, both are important as they hold significant future opportunities of enablement by mobile communications technology."

I found this report valuable in obtaining a better understanding on how the use of mobile communications technologies can lead to a reduction of carbon emissions.

Are there aspects of the report that you find valuable or informative?

Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of Solutions for a Sustainable World.

Adoption of IoT Among Enterprises Will Drive Overall IoT Growth in the MENA Region

The previous post focuses on a report by GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of the GSMA, a UK-based trade organization, about how the mobile technology sector is predicted to reach just over $220 billion by 2023 in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. "The 2020s will see 5G activities become more widespread across the region. . . . By 2025, there will be 45 million 5G connections across the region, accounting for 6% of total mobile connections." The rise of 5G in the MENA region will lead to the adoption of connected devices or Internet of Things (IoT). This is the subject of another report published by GSMA Intelligence.

Realizing the Potential of IoT in MENA presents five key findings:

IoT connection growth in MENA second only to Asia-Pacific

"IoT connections in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are growing at a rate second only to Asia-Pacific. With a well-established smart city vision acting as a catalyst for the IoT market, initiatives from governments and the mobile industry are expected to be fundamental in helping IoT revenues reach $55 billion by 2025. The commitment to and innovation in IoT seen across MENA is also expected to benefit the GDP of the regional economy to the tune of $18 billion in 2025."

Operators need to move beyond connectivity to monetize IoT

"The region's IoT ecosystem (which includes operators, IoT vendors, systems integrators and business customers) needs to exploit the synergies available from 5G-based IoT deployments to innovate, adopt and deploy new services. These include 'applications, platforms and services' – a category of IoT services expected to win a majority share of the market worth more than $30 billion by 2025. To take a greater share of the IoT revenue opportunity, operators need to move beyond connectivity into strategic partnerships with ecosystem players and even governments to launch new value-added services."

Governments play a pivotal role as policymakers and customers

"Mobile operators and the ecosystem as a whole cannot gain traction without the vision and support of regional and national policymakers to develop the IoT market and capture the social, commercial and economic benefits available. Governments can play a pivotal role as both policymakers and customers, as they have their own digital transformation agendas. National governments can encourage IoT market growth through regulation (e.g. smart fire alarms) and by exploiting the power of IoT sensors and automation to enhance public services."

Strategic opportunity lies in integrating security and data protection in IoT

"This report illustrates the market potential across MENA's IoT ecosystem and points to growth trends in smart cities, industrial IoT and consumer IoT. But it also recognizes the challenges, with the biggest likely to be around security and data protection. The region has a strategic opportunity to lead on security by design and ensure cybersecurity and data protection are built in from the start. The GSMA and mobile industry have contributed to the security initiative by introducing the GSMA's IoT Security Guidelines and IoT Security Self-Assessment. This report includes examples of best practices from the global regulatory environment."

Mobile operators are vital to the success of IoT in the region

"Mobile operators possess foundational assets and capabilities for targeting the IoT ecosystem in the form of 5G and NB-IoT networks, the power of the SIM, and key customer-facing channels and partnerships to help take IoT propositions to market. Operators are in the process of establishing these assets in the IoT ecosystem, making them vital to the success of IoT services in the region."

Based on other reports and conversations my colleagues and I recently had with business leaders and government officials in the MENA region, there is a focused effort to rapidly scale the industrial IoT industry. The report encouragingly notes: "Adoption of IoT among enterprises will drive overall IoT growth in the region, resulting in industrial IoT connections overtaking consumer in 2018 and forming the majority of connections (57%), reaching 624 million in 2025 (see Figure 5). Governments in the region are both major customers and policy enablers of this industrial IoT."

Moreover, "Utility companies are installing smart meters to monitor customers' use of energy or water in near real-time, cutting costs and helping balance supply and demand. For example, Egypt and UAE utilize IoT-enabled water management to deal with insufficient groundwater reserves. Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity & Water in partnership with Zain and SAP is connecting over 1 million smart electricity and water meters, enabling real-time access to usage and billing data."

Lastly, "Smart buildings will continue to be the largest industrial segment throughout the forecast period, followed by smart metering."

Which IoT applications, platforms and services do you think will succeed in the MENA region?

Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of GT Perspectives, an online forum focused on turning perspective into opportunity.

Mobile Is Accelerating Digital Transformation in Pakistan, Says GSMA Report

"Mobile technology is at the heart of digital transformation in Pakistan driving social development and economic growth," explains a report by GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of the GSMA, a UK-based industry association. "Digital transformation is underway in the country, with government and public institutions as well as private and development organizations using digital platforms to increase engagement and improve service delivery to its citizens."

The power of mobile to accelerate digital transformation in Pakistan discusses the following:

• Pakistan government socioeconomic aspirations in context;
• Digital transformation in Pakistan and the role of mobile technology;
• Mobile technology contribution to social and economic progress in Pakistan; and
• Opportunities ahead to accelerate the impact of mobile-enabled digital transformation on socioeconomic progress.

Based on my experience of working in developing countries such as Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Iraq, I concur that a "knowledge-based economy is built on the foundation of common access to fast, reliable and affordable digital content and services by individuals, businesses and public institutions." The report notes that in "Pakistan, this is primarily enabled by mobile technology, which now provides access to digital services for more people in the country than any other communications technology; 70% of internet users in Pakistan only ever access the internet on a mobile phone."

The report further says: "Rising smartphone adoption means more people are able to use feature-rich and IP-based digital content on their mobile devices, mitigating the challenge of much lower penetration of PCs and other data-enabled devices. The Pakistan Citizens Portal, which connects government organizations both at federal and provincial levels, is powered by smartphone apps on the Android and iOS platforms, so can be accessed by people on mobile devices."

Moreover, "In addition to internet connectivity, mobile technology enables cellular IoT (Internet of Things) connectivity for a variety of personal and industrial devices. Currently, IoT applications in Pakistan include solar-powered home solutions enabling off-grid rural households to power electronic devices; on-board diagnostics (OBD) devices for fleet management; and IoT solutions integrated with vehicle and motorcycle insurance products to reduce theft. In future, cellular IoT connectivity and services will play a vital role in implementing smart city solutions, which can help governments at different levels to cope with rapid urbanization and improve security services."

The report's key findings include:

• Mobile broadband networks now cover 80 percent of the population and 97 percent of internet connections are mobile;
• Pakistan has nearly 700,000 cellular IoT connections across areas including agriculture, clean energy and safe water solutions;
• Mobile technology is the primary channel for digital financial services, digital birth registration initiatives, digital health solutions and digital learning;
• Mobile operators and the ecosystem also provided direct employment to around 320,000 people in Pakistan in 2018;
• The mobile ecosystem in Pakistan plays an increasingly important role in economic growth, contributing around $16.7 billion, equivalent to 5.4 percent of GDP; and
• Enablement of digital ecosystem is largely supported by timely policy interventions for the facilitation and enablement of the industry and most importantly the end-user.

What mobile products or services do you think should be developed to help accelerate Pakistan's digital transformation?

Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of GT Perspectives, an online forum focused on turning perspective into opportunity.

Driven by Smart Cities and Smart Utilities, Industrial IoT Connections in the Commonwealth of Independent States Will See Strong Growth

"At the end of 2018, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was home to 235 million unique mobile subscribers, of which Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan together accounted for 80%," explains a report published by the GSMA. The CIS (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan) "has a high rate of unique mobile subscriber penetration at 81%, though country-level figures range from 60% in Turkmenistan to almost 90% in Russia. As saturation of the region's addressable market edges closer, future growth will be limited, with less than 9 million new unique subscribers forecast by 2025."

Authored by GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of the GSMA, Mobile Economy: Russia & CIS 2019 adds that "the CIS is now seeing an accelerating shift to mobile broadband. 4G will overtake 2G as a proportion of connections in 2019," excluding licensed cellular Internet of Things (IoT), "and will become the region's leading mobile technology in 2021."

Moreover, "Greater use of data-intensive services and demand for higher speeds will drive further adoption, with 4G accounting for more than two-thirds of total connections by 2025. Only Belarus and Russia are expected to launch 5G by the end of 2020; networks in the region's other 10 markets will be live by 2025. The CIS will be home to around 54 million 5G connections by 2025, representing an adoption rate of 13%."

Source: GSMA Intelligence

On the topic of the mobile industry's significant contributions to jobs and the economy, "In 2018, mobile technologies and services generated 4.7% of GDP in the CIS, a contribution of $101 billion of economic value added. In the period to 2023, this figure will increase to $122 billion (5.1% of GDP). The mobile ecosystem supported 620,000 jobs in the CIS in 2018, either through direct employment or indirectly through activity in the wider economy. Mobile also contributes to the funding of the public sector, raising $12 billion in 2018 – mainly via general taxation. 5G technologies are expected to contribute $34 billion to the CIS economy over the next 15 years, impacting key sectors such as manufacturing, utilities and construction."

Regarding regional innovation being underpinned by mobile connectivity, the report points out that IoT "is an area where mobile operators can grow their business beyond traditional communications. Industrial IoT connections in the CIS will see strong growth out to 2025, driven by increased interest in smart cities and smart utilities. With IoT revenue set to reach $26 billion in 2025, operators are implementing strategies designed to capture opportunities at the applications, platforms and services layer."

Source: GSMA Intelligence

The GSMA further says "operators are seeking to invest or formalize partnerships in the e-commerce market, particularly as smartphone and mobile broadband adoption rates grow. The industry is also exploring potential applications of, and devising solutions based on, artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies, and injecting greater funds in the start-up ecosystem to protect itself from disruption and diversify revenues."

I concur that "5G mobile networks offer the potential to underpin a range of solutions for enterprises, in addition to serving the consumer market." I also agree that "[p]olicymakers should consider the rollout of 5G a vehicle for driving socioeconomic growth and the transformation of traditional industries. The regulatory framework should foster the mobile industry's development within an environment that is conducive to investment. Launches of 5G networks in other markets indicate that key factor behind their successful deployment and operation is the creation of a comprehensive national 5G development plan."

Infographic: GSMA Intelligence

What investment or business opportunities are you seeing in the CIS' mobile industry?

Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of Solutions for a Sustainable World.