Mobile SIM cards have potential to drive mobile for development (M4D) on the continent, according to officials at the GSMA Mobile 360 Series - Africa conference.

The GSMA is currently holding the Africa series of its conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

M4D is a technology initiative to create practical and sustainable mobile solutions and services to enable social development by connecting them with people.

Speaking at an M4D session Martin Harris, director of technology for Mobile for Development at the GSMA said there are various benefits that mobile SIMs have for M4D.

To date the majority of mobile services in M4D have been informational and broadcast in nature, he stated.

The next step is to move to personalised and targeted sectors like agriculture, health, food, disaster response, digital inclusion and financial services, Harris noted.

“The reach of the SIM is huge… the mobile market reaches everyone,” said Harris.

Last year’s GSMA “Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Economy” report stated that there were 253 million unique mobile subscribers and 502 million connections.

In terms of the GSMA's definition connections are total unique SIM cards (or phone numbers, where SIM cards are not used) that have been registered on mobile networks.

Meanwhile, unique subscribers refer to individual mobile users.

Harris concluded by saying the SIM has various capabilities like storage, app support, transfer speed and security features, which are vital for M4D services.