We think we’re so hi-tech with our smart phones. Don’t be surprised if, while our back is turned, solar power, mobile banking and innovative mobile solutions see poorer, and rural-dominated countries lead the way in mobile and overcome the so-called internet digital divide without needing computers.

It’s fascinating to tune into the discussion at last week’s mobile world congress in Spain.

From there, we learn that one billion people who have a mobile phone in the world have no easy access to a bank account.

So mobile money apps are enabling them to pay bills, get paid or transfer money.

According to an AFP report, 40 million people are now doing this including 18,000 in Uganda each day. Asia and Africa are the driving forces.

While there’s a lot of talk about helping poor people get access to the internet, it’s easy to forget that many of these people are now using mobiles and as smart phones get cheaper, this means that those people may have a much cheaper and easier way to get online, if the cost is made affordable.

And smart thinking is working out how to make mobiles affordable for the poor and technically within their reach.

And it’s easy to learn how to use a phone, compared to some tinkering on the computer.

Take India where people there have among the lowest mobile calling rates in the world—less than US1c a minute and cheap phones. The Indian government did a smart thing and got out of the way and let private companies compete for business so there’s real competition.

Such fierce competition is leading those companies to offer innovative add-ons to attract customers, something we’re not getting in more some Western countries, where companies just fleece customers and lock them into long plans. And yes, in India, mobile phone banking there is the next big thing.

Watch for more poorer and rural countries leading the way with mobiles and moving to mobile internet, rather than trying to achieve some difficult hook-up to the internet via computer.

People in even the remotest corners of India, the Middle East and other countries will soon be able to access a mobile and the net because of the innovation of a solar-powered telecommunications tower from an Indian company, Vihaan Networks.

That company has been testing mobile signals it in very remote areas, using solar power and says it works brilliantly.

It’s also an environmental winner as in India mobile operators presently burn 1.8b litres of diesel generating electricity for their networks

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