Mobile phone airtime is an important, if not crucial, aspect of modern life in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. With the growth of mobile devices and the widespread availability of mobile networks, airtime has become an essential commodity. Why does airtime dominate in these countries? Because it facilitates communication and commerce, as well as access to all essential services.
But there is much more behind this. Because of its main role in modern communications in these regions, airtime serves as the paste that glues together many aspects of contemporary life. This has a significant impact on social cohesion and has helped strengthen social networks in these regions. Airtime has helped many people access essential services, like healthcare and education. Specially in rural areas where mobile phones are sometimes the only means to connect patients with healthcare providers, or children and adults with educators.
Reloadly has played an important role in the ways airtime is bought, sold, and transferred. This is an exciting time for exciting new developments! However, it is important to explain why airtime has become the vital necessity that it is today.
(By the way, check our cool webpage and see what we have for you at Reloadly!)
What is Airtime?
Although it is a term that we discuss widely in this blog, there might still be some people who will be unfamiliar with it. By Airtime, we talk about the time that a mobile phone user can actively communicate on the network. This is typically measured in minutes, and it is part of daily life in many African, Asian, and Latin American communities.
If we want to be specific, airtime’s role of dominance is found in countries that export large numbers of expats and migrant workers. Diaspora populations are spread all around the world. India and Mexico are the top two among the top ten countries where expats and migrant workers come from, and most of these countries are in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Airtime can be bought or given as a present. It can be acquired for personal use or be transferred cross-borders to friends and family. Traditional methods like scratch cards are expensive and time consuming. A reliable software like Reloadly’s API for top-ups is the best means for businesses and merchants to offer this service.
(With Reloadly’s API for airtime Top-Ups, expats and migrant workers can easily send airtime back home. That way, it is easy for them to keep in touch with friends and family! Why not take a look at what out cool API for airtime has to offer?)
How does Airtime Dominate These Countries?
Let’s look at some of the basics behind the dominance of airtime in these regions. As it always is the case with tech, there are deep reasons behind it.
Communications
In many regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, traditional forms of communications, like landlines, are often unreliable. Even non-existent, despite high degrees of industrialization and urbanization. Although these continents are hosts to some of the world’s largest cities, the fact remains that large parts of their geographies are hard to communicate with.
In the absence of satellite phones, mobile phones have filled this gap. They allow people within the region to stay in touch with family and friends. With a mobile phone fueled with an airtime top-up, they can also communicate with a loved one out in the Diaspora. Or conduct business and access emergency services.
In some instances, airtime is seen as valuable as currency! It isn’t strange that many people see airtime as the currency that enables basic communication services!
Money and Commerce
Some may find it difficult to understand, but there are people who do not have access to banking services, known as unbanked. That is, not having access to basic bank services, such as an account. Morocco, Vietnam, Egypt, The Philippines, and Mexico are among the top five countries with the most unbanked population. Over 60% of their populations, according to research by Merchant Machine.
Formal banking services are not widely available in these, and other African, Asian, and Latin American countries. Without access to bank accounts, credit or debit cards, mobile phones fill the gap. APIs like Reloadly’s, for example, can help migrant workers and expats send remittances back to their homelands. However, their family’s phones need to be toped up with airtime. Without it, money can’t be received or sent, so it is always important for people in these countries to have a full reserve of airtime.
By the same token, airtime serves to conduct local business. Mobile phones allow communications among merchants and business owners in poorly communicated regions. Seen under this light, airtime becomes the glue that keeps local businesses going. What would happen if a business owner’s phone suddenly ran dry of it?
(Did you know that Reloadly’s API lets you conduct utility payments? It’s true! Together with its API for airtime top-ups, Reloadly is a player that helps people pay for goods and receive remittances.)
Basic and Essential Services
The role that airtime plays in accessing services can’t be overtly stated. With the rise of mobile health (mHealth) and mobile learning (mLearning), airtime is how populations can use their phone to access tools for improving their health and education.
There are applications and services that rely on mobile phone airtime to provide health advice, medical consultations, and fantastic educational materials. Not only that, with a properly toped up mobile phone, populations can access government service. Which ones? Try tax payments, utility bills, and social welfare programs!
Politics and Social Movements
As we have seen in the last decade, mobile phones and political participation hold hands. Specially among young people. Mobile phones have become important tools for political mobilization. They allow people to organize and participate in all kinds of political activities, like rallies and protests.
With airtime, young people can organize themselves. They can send messages, make calls, and access social media platform to share information and coordinate activities. In recent years, mobile phones have played an important, if not critical, role in the democratization of many African and Asian cities. Fueled with airtime, mobile phones give citizens a platform and a voice for holding their governments accountable.
Other Reasons Why Airtime Dominates
It’s been three years already, but we can’t forget about the Covid-19 pandemic. It highlighted the importance of mobile phones all around the world, but specially in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As lockdowns and social distancing measures were implemented, people realized that they could rely on their mobile phones to stay in touch and conduct their lives. Without airtime, braving the pandemic would have been even more difficult.
The pandemic, however, revealed inequalities in the way people accessed airtime.For example, in many low-income communities, people lacked the means to top-up their phones with airtime. This left them disconnected from their families, friends, and essential services and health information. In a related note, the Pandemic showed the need for reliable networks that guarantee that people can access mobile phone services in times of crisis.
Both the government and the private sector need to improve the way people can buy and receive airtime. With Reloadly’s API for airtime top-ups, user can buy airtime and send it to their family and friends on the spot. For the receiver, it is a convenient and effective way to fully top-up their phones in no time. For the merchant and business owner, it is the safest means of doing so.
Reloadly’s API for Airtime Top-Ups Makes Life Easier
For a business owner who wishes to provide an airtime top-up service, Reloadly’s API is the right tool for the job. It is easy to integrate and comes free of charge. No hidden fees, no messy paperwork. Transactions are simple, instantaneous, and can be traceable to help keep a clean record on the books.
Our technology is sophisticated, yet not complicated. In a matter of minutes, any business can start toping up mobile phones around the word! With access to over 800+ mobile phone operators spread in 170, there are no limits to the markets that can be reached!
(Here’s another tip: with Reloadly, you can also offer data bundle top-ups! What about digital gift cards? We have those too! With Reloadly’s APIs, you can start exploring new revenue streams for your business!)
Some Final Words Before We Go
Mobile phones are a critical technology in diaspora countries, and airtime is the fuel by which they transformcommunities. The are important for economic development, healthcare, communications, and many other future uses we probably can’t think about at the moment.
Reloadly developed a simple, yet fantastic, technology to help keep airtime flowing into Africa, Asia, and Latin America. We aimed at developing an international standard other companies can look at for inspiration, and we believe we have succeeded. All of it despite some blunders we may have encountered along the way, like the pandemic and other inconveniences. But it doesn’t matter, because we have done our part in the bigger scheme that is this human adventure!
Have we picked up your curiosity? Please, get in touch with us today!
