Kevin Kelly has a new post where he relates a recent speech by Iqbal Quadir who is the founder of GrameenPhone, a Bangladeshi service which provides cell phones to those who traditionally could not afford them. The phone serves as a business (rented to others) and a source of connectivity to others. Quadir believes this distributed entrepreneurial approach is essential to eradicating global poverty.

Quadir is deeply skeptical of government spending to alleviate poverty, especially in unitary states. In his native home of Bangladesh, “everything of importance” was located in the capital, Dacca. I found this to be the case when researching development in Thailand last semester; Bangkok is disproportionately wealthy and healthy compared to the majority of the country – agricultural regions. The paper (PDF) I wrote sought ways to decentralize the state so that opportunities for advancement were present outside of the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. In both Thailand and Bangladesh, this centralization has led to corruption and stagnation. When all money flows through a couple hands, the potential for corruption is increased.

Of course, centralization has tangible benefits: increased productivity through ease of communication is an obvious one, efficiency another. However, Quadir thinks that “technologies that connect” are the key to bringing these advantages to decentralized systems.

Mobile phones are demonstrably effective in this regard. I do, however, worry that given the economies of scale and monopoly status of many telecoms, a new centralized power does, in fact, emerge. Although the Grameen organizations sought a mutually beneficial business ecosystem which alleviated poverty through profits, other businesses, ISPs included, may not be as socially responsible. Frequently, the head of the mobile phone networks in developing countries are related to the country’s leader. Serious thought should be given to the intermediaries’ ability to control “technologies that connect.”

Quadir is now examining other industries which might be “decentralizable” so that the benefits of, say, energy production can be distributed.

[Photo: MIT Legatum Center]