World Dialogue on Regulation

Despite the positive benefits telephony can have for economic development, many people in developing nations are held back by a diverse set of factors – such as connectivity in rural locations, duties and taxes imposed by governments, the costs of handsets and the cost of services. Once the hurdle of access to communication is overcome, people in developing nations still have to contend with the costs of services. This paper by WDR partner LIRNEasia examines perceptions of affordability amongst low income telecommunication users in India and Sri Lanka and the effects of changes in service costs on their usage patterns.

Led by Professor Robin Mansell at the Media and Communications Department of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and Claire Milne, Visiting Researcher at LSE, this project has focused on developing a better understanding of affordability as key to understanding telecom demand which, in turn, is central to sound business cases for investment and the achievement of network development in developing countries. The main report and three companion papers are now available. This project has been undertaken for LIRNE.Net and the World Dialogue on Regulation and funded by IDRC, Canada.

LIRNEasia’s Telecom Use on a Shoestring project is looking at telecom strategies of the poor in three countries, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. While surveys were conducted in India and Sri Lanka (see Telecom Use on a Shoestring: a Study of the Financially Constrained in South Asia), a substantial amount of similar research has already been carried out on Bangladesh in the context of Grameen’s Village Phone program. Therefore, the Bangladesh part of the study is in the form of a meta-analysis of some of these key studies.

Some preliminary findings are now available for the LIRNEasia study Telecom Use on a Shoestring: a Study of the Financially Constrained in South Asia. Based on a survey of 3199 telecom users in India and Sri Lanka with monthly incomes of less than U$D100, the study answers questions such as:

• What kind of phone connections do they use?
• How much do they spend on telecom services?
• Are they willing to spend more?
• How they choose what kind of phone connection to use?
• What do they use phones for?
• What difficulties do they face?

A draft version of the research report submitted by Payal Malik and Harsha de Silva of LIRNEasia titled Diversifying Network Participation: Study of India’s Universal Service Instruments is now available for download as a PDF document. You can also read one of the author's commentary based on the research that was published in The Indian Express on 31 October 2005.

Lead centre: Media & Communications, LSE - Contacts: Robin Mansell & Claire Milne

Understanding affordability is key to understanding telecom demand which, in turn, is central to sound business cases for investment and the achievement of network development.  This project is the first stage in producing a toolkit for improving telecom affordability alongside improvements in accessibility.  The project is in part a scoping study, and will produce plans for completing the toolkit as well as some initial elements of the toolkit.