LIVE FROM MOBILE 360 MIDDLE EAST: Mobile is closing the digital divide in emerging markets in many ways, according to Hatem Dowidar (pictured), chairman of Vodafone Egypt and regional director for the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia region.

Speaking in Dubai, Dowidar said that with the “fiction of a device that can connect a person to all the information in the world” now a reality, the constraints of an earlier fixed network world are becoming less of an issue.

“We can see that there’s going to be leapfrogging of a generation right into the smartphone and internet era,” he said.

Dowidar noted that Vodafone Group is working with government, regulators, infrastructure vendors and NGOs to bring the benefits of mobile to more people, including those in disaster zones.

It provides mobile-enabled financial, education and healthcare services aimed at narrowing the digital divide. “We’re trying to have services and products that give people opportunity to be part of that connected world,” Dowidar said.

One healthcare initiative undertaken by Vodafone in Tanzania is to tackle obstetric fistula, a condition afflicting some women after childbirth. Between 2009 and 2013, there was a 315 per cent increase in women treated for the condition, due to improved access to healthcare professionals via mobile.

In the education sector, Vodafone Egypt offers an app that supports literacy programmes and can be accessed by both smartphones and feature phones.