Mobile telecom service industry in India enjoyed a high growth rate during the last decade but is now struggling to maintain a sustainable growth rate due to deterioration of key operating metrics, leverages, financial metrics, high operating costs, and disparity of teledensity between rural and urban India. The purpose of this study is to provide a conceptual framework of rural entrepreneurship with the aim to enhance adoption and consumption of mobile telecom services in bottom-of-pyramid markets. On the basis of extensive review of literature and three case studies drawn from Asian telecom firms, viz., Village Phone Program – Bangladesh and Smart Communication Inc. Philippines, and Celtel International – Nigeria, various partners such as mobile telecom operators, microfinance agencies, rural entrepreneurs, local community and regulating bodies have been identified as the major stakeholders in the suggested model.

Entrepreneurial revolution started in the 1990s and has led the world economy towards substantial development. The world economy has highly benefited from the renowned entrepreneurs of the last decade such as Sam Walton of Wal-Mart, Fred Smith of FedEx, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Michael Dell of Dell Computers, and Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines (Hisrich et al., 2007). Entrepreneurship inevitably begins with a creative idea and successful entrepreneurs turn this idea into a viable business with proper planning and implementation (Zimmerer and Scarborough, 2011). In this new century, the corporate strategy is highly focused on innovation, and rural entrepreneurship has emerged as an innovative business practice adopted by many renowned companies. Rural entrepreneurship is an innovative approach that creates a win-win situation for all the partners such as rural community, business, organization and financial institution and acts as catalyst for wealth creation and social empowerment in the deprived environment (Sridharan and Viswanathan, 2008). Availability of financial institutions, special legislation from local government bodies, firm’s innovativeness, favorable infrastructure, and emergence of self-help groups are some remarkable factors that help in initiating rural entrepreneurship (Ozgen and Minsky, 2007). Sustainable competitive advantage is a key element for becoming a successful entrepreneur and it can be accomplished by critical evaluation of external environment, specific industry environment, and community assessment. Community assessment is the most crucial part, and is done by analyzing two factors, i.e., community reliance (need) for the venture and deservedness of entrepreneurs to serve the local community. A majority of the rural markets have high potential but are still under-tapped as compared to their urban counterparts. Companies keen on targeting rural areas started projects such as e-Choupal by ITC (Annamalai, 2003; and Anupindi and Sivakumar, 2005), Shakti-Amma by HUL (Rohatynskyj, 2011), Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar by DSCL (Dash et al., 2011), and Innovative Partnerships by PepsiCo India (Basu and Basu, 2011). Rural markets are considered as an opportunity as well as compulsion for contemporary marketers. It is an opportunity due to occurrence of huge under-tapped potential, growing per-household consumption, increasing prosperity, infrastructure development, and improving literacy level (McKinsey, 2007; and Planning Commission of India, 2011), while it is considered a compulsion due to saturation of urban markets (Krishnamacharyulu and Ramakrishnan, 2010). Today various industries such as fast-moving consumer goods (HUL, ITC, Godrej, P&G, and Colgate-Palmolive), consumer durables (LG and Maharaja), and telecommunication (Vodafone, Airtel, Micromax, and Karbbon) have successfully entered rural market with their innovative marketing strategies.

Entrepreneurship Development, Rural Entrepreneurship, Mobile Telecom Services, Infrastructure Development, Planning and Implementation.