CEOs in Technology

Breakthrough launch at Mobile World Congress enables NGOs to provide personalised information services to very low earners

LONDON, UK February 8, 2010 - Movirtu, the supplier of innovative network infrastructure solutions for mobile operators servicing rural poor communities, will bring communications capability to a major new market, with the announcement and debut of MXInfo at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week.

Wireless technology today is changing the way mobile phones are utilised in emerging markets. A phone can be used not only to communicate with family and friends, but to find information about crop prices, and to access agricultural and health information. However 80% of the people living below the poverty line do not own a phone required to access these services; they do however often share other people's phones.

MXInfo enables Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and welfare organisations to provide personalised information services through the mobile operator to people living on less than $2 a day without the need for them to own their own mobile phone.

With MXInfo it is possible to have an active and a passive way of information gathering for the "Bottom of the Pyramid" mobile communication users. It enables NGO's to provide personalised information via a simple menu structure which is accessed by an individual user name and password on any phone available.

The system also enables users to enter information into local bulletin boards, and through the use of tagging enables users to access specific local information.
"Information is power," said Nigel Waller, Founder and CEO of Movirtu. "By making information accessible to the poor we are empowering them to escape poverty".

MXPay will be available initially for hosting by mobile operators located in Africa and South Asia.

About Movirtu
Movirtu is a supplier of innovative network infrastructure solutions for mobile operators located in emerging markets to help them create access to basic phone services for more than a billion people earning less than two dollars a day. The company's MXShare product enables subscribers, who cannot afford to buy a handset, to own a virtual phone account with their own telephone number which they can access from other people's mobile phones. By enabling basic phone services Movirtu is helping people access jobs, raise incomes, access displaced family members and, increasingly, is acting as an enabler to send remittances over the mobile phone network. Movirtu is a private company, headquartered in London, UK with offices in Johannesburg, South Africa. Please visit www.movirtu.com for more information.