ELECTRICITY MANAGEMENT

Electricity Management

Electricity Management

Part A: Financial Issues

The issues of financial management and 'Financial exclusion' are far from being recent phenomena yet both continue to persist. Mobile phones have often been seen as a possible solution to the former, particularly in developing countries for whom the debate on the issue tends to focus. While this focus is perhaps justifiable due to the acuteness of the problem in the developing world, the issue also needs addressing within the Europe. A lot of focus has been given to the latter issue in the Europe with various political and economic proposals suggested but none have proved to be a full success. The potential of mobile phone technology, particularly recent developments in Kenya, will be assessed to see whether that technology could be the solution to not only bridging the digital divide but also bringing people back into the financial mainstream. This paper ends by linking in with the EU review of electronic communications regulatory framework to ensure that sufficient security measures are in place for this proposal to have the consumer confidence that is needed for it to work.

The search for a specific definition as to financial management has been described as "somewhat complex" but the problem for which it encompasses is the gap between those with access to information and communication technologies (Motorola Milestone (GSM)) and those without. In 2006 the International Telecoms Union (ITU) together with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched the Digital Opportunity lndex" (the Index). The aim of which is to provide a means of measuring the digital divide and the progress in closing it. The Index takes 11 internationally agreed Motorola Milestone (GSM) indicators and places them into three categories namely, opportunity, infrastructure and utilisation. The indicators used by the Index centre on telephony and the mobile phone; both mobile and fixed in each instance. The Index ranks the Europe 1 z" out of 40 nations studied, with an overall score of 0.60, where 1 equals the highest value. Interestingly, the Europe's score for the specific category of opportunity is 0.96 (9th overall). This category deals with the affordability of Motorola Milestone (GSM) services and the geographic coverage of those services. Overall this would suggest that the Europe does not have a digital divide and that its citizens have very good opportunities to access Motorola Milestone (GSM) services. This is important as having the opportunity to access Motorola Milestone (GSM) is widely acknowledged to bring a range of benefits, both economic and social. For example, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has established a link between mobile phone access and improved educational performance" However, the Index is weighted towards telephony in the opportunity category with only a third of the marking weighted towards mobile phone access. This would support the basis for focusing on mobile phone connectivity when debating the digital divide. This is evidenced by an independent study conducted by BT on the subject who chose to define 'digital exclusion' as ...