Dear Dr Abedin, I would agree that there is no one tool that is sufficient in isolation for successful transfer of all the types of information needed in rural areas. Further your point that the benefits and challenges of any tool, including mobile phones, may be different in rural vs. urban areas is understood. The e-Agriculture community does focus on issues around the use of ICT in rural livelihoods, and the we intend the discussions of this forum to focus on rural areas as the title "Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas" implies. That said I think we cannot eliminate reference to urban areas 100% in the discussion - if for no other reason than much of the agricultural produce of rural areas is bound for retail markets/consumption in urban areas. Wouldn't you agree? Michael (FAO)

Welcome Paula and thank you for joining and introducing yourself and Infodesarrollo. It seems everyone here is excited about the potential of mobile telephones and looking forward to build our own success by sharing our experiences and knowledge. We look forward to knowing more about the situation in Ecuador and the use of mobile phones there. Please when you have time check the first discussion question which is now posted under the new thread "Discussions - Week 1". Cheers, Michael (FAO)

Hello Hector. We are glad you have joined the forum and look forward to your thoughts in this discussion. Please be sure to look at the question and discussion going on now under "Discussion - Week 1". Cheers, Michael (FAO)

Hi Dr Ebong, and thank you for joining. Over the years I have seen the cost of many ICT technologies raise concern in the development sector, but costs do tend to fall over time and I think more importantly there are many innovative solutions being developed to provide better information more efficiently. Let's look for some of these ideas in the main forum discussion. We also hope you'll share your experiences and perspective from Cameroon. cheers, Michael (FAO)

Hello Dr Islam. Thank you for introducing yourself and identifying some of your partnerships. The people to people and organization to organization relationships are key issues in ICT4D work. I hope you will share some insight with us to make the most of this knowledge sharing opportunity. Please check the first discussion question which is now posted under the new thread "Discussions - Week 1". Cheers, Michael (FAO)

Welcome Franz! It's great to see as the day progresses around the globe people from all parts of the world introducing themselves here. We look forward to a very active forum! cheers, Michael

Greetings Vincent. We are glad to have you in the forum and look forward to make the most of this knowledge sharing opportunity. Please check the first discussion question which is now posted under the new thread "Discussions - Week 1". Cheers, Michael (FAO)

Dear Syeda, thank you for joining the forum. I agree that we need to get into practical and tested materials to make the most of this knowledge sharing opportunity. Please check the first discussion question which is now posted under the new thread "Discussions - Week 1". Cheers, Michael (FAO)

Dear Harsha, welcome! I'm very glad you have joined. Please invite your staff and colleagues as well. We look forward to your sharing with us from your broad experience on how mobile phones, as part of our ICT "tool kit", can impact livelihoods. I met with Shalini and Chase last week to talk about the report. Very interesting work :) cheers, Michael (FAO)

Hello Helene! Welcome to the forum and thank you for participating - I see you are already sharing in the week 1 discussion which is super. As the week moves forward we will put in some additional guiding questions. cheers, Michael (FAO)