About the project
Coming Soon: Book and DVD
07/07/2008
We are pleased to announce that the Mobile Planet book and DVD are currently being printed and will be available for purchase in early September.
UK VIP Screening
21/04/2008
On Wednesday 16th April, TelecomTV and the GSMA held an exclusive invitation-only screening of "Mobile Planet" at the prestigious BAFTA Theatre in Central London.
News: Barcelona Screenings
11/02/2008
Mobile Planet premieres at the Mobile World Congress this week. There will be an Invitation-Only screening of highlights on Monday evening, followed by an Open Screening on Tuesday.
News: Documentary, Book and Web Resource
11/02/2008
At its heart, Mobile Planet is a 90-minute documentary film. But the film is not the end of the project; over the course of 2008, extended features will be released each month for viewing via the Internet.
News: The Production Journey
10/02/2008
There are over one million new GSM connections every day, with one billion mobile phones sold last year.
Introducing Mobile Planet
09/02/2008
Twenty years ago, 15 telecoms operators came together in Copenhagen, and signed a document that paved the way for global mobile.
Press release: Global Mobile Communication is 20 Years Old
06/09/2007
Twenty years ago tomorrow, an historic agreement was signed in Copenhagen by 15 telecommunications operators from 13 countries* that led to the development of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and a mobile communications industry that today serves more than 2.5 billion people across 218 countries and territories.
The Mobile World Documentary
05/09/2007
The origins of global mobile communications today can be traced back to a single agreement signed on September 7th 1987 by Europe's biggest telecommunications operators. It was the catalyst of international cooperation on an unprecedented scale.
Latest News
The Production Journey
10/02/2008
There are over one million new GSM connections every day, with one billion mobile phones sold last year.
"The numbers are staggering," said Mobile Planet writer and director Guy Daniels. "But it's not until you see some of these new connections in developing markets - which account for two-thirds of all mobile users - that you really begin to appreciate their significance."
For example, there is an oft-quoted case study about how fishermen in India use mobiles to check the prices of fish, and have seen their businesses thrive as a result. But how do you know that's really what has happened? The filmmakers therefore went to Cochin to find out for themselves, and ended up miles out at sea on a fishing trawler.
The team also travelled through Kenya, before the recent terrible internal conflict there, and witnessed first-hand the role of community phones, simple business applications and mobile banking. Simple applications, simple solutions; but they make such a positive difference to the population. They even have a scheme that equips wheelchair-bound people in Nairobi with a mobile business and gives new meaning to the term 'mobile phone'.
Afghanistan is a late entrant to our Mobile Planet. During Taliban rule, telecoms was strictly controlled. If you needed to make a call you either had to trek to neighbouring Pakistan or Iran, or else find an illicit satellite phone operator. The team filmed in Kabul to show just how much mobile is thriving. Thanks in part to the many thousands of street-based top-up card vendors, known as 'outbound sellers', communications in Afghanistan has undergone a revolution.
"But if I had to pick one country where the positive impact of mobiles shone through, it would be Rwanda," said Daniels. "The horrific genocide was only 13 years ago; it devastated the country. But now they're rebuilding their society. And they are using mobiles to contain and treat the AIDS epidemic, bringing quality healthcare to the most remote areas of the country."
The team interviewed everyone from CEOs to the man on the street, to try and understand just how much mobile has affected our everyday lives. And with music and images, phones are now entertainment portals; so the documentary team also visited musicians, actors, filmmakers and games developers.