World Dialogue on Regulation

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?

The study was conducted by a LIRNEasia team: Ayesha Zainudeen, Rohan Samarajiva, Ayoma Abeysuriya, Harsha de Silva, Divakar Goswami, Mariam Hameed, Tahani Iqbal, Malathy Knight-John, Sriganesh Lokanathan, Avanti Moonesinghe, Chanuka Wattegama

Some findings of interest

• More than half of the respondents do not even own the phone that they use.
• Thirty one per cent of fixed owners and seven per cent of mobile users allow other people (non-family) to use their phones.
• ‘Keeping in touch’ with friends and family locally was the biggest use of telephones
• Sixty four per cent of mobile users spend at least USD4 per month on mobile communication
• One third of mobile users in Jaffna spend over 12 per cent of their monthly income on telecommunication
• Women spend equally as long on the phone as men, and use the phone for the same purposes
• Twenty two per cent of Sri Lankan respondents with monthly incomes below USD 50 owned a mobile; only 3 per cent owned a fixed phone.
• More than two thirds of those studied do not take advantage of ‘off-peak’ rates.
• Less than ten per cent of mobile users that switch their phones off, switch their phones off to avoid incoming calls
• Ten per cent of mobile users are using ‘free’ handsets; 33 per cent of Indian mobile users bought second-hand handsets
• Fixed, mobile and public access are perceived to be more affordable by rural users as against urban users
• Mobile is perceived to be more affordable amongst Indian respondents
• Pre-paid mobile is used by 83 per cent of mobile owners in the samples

A presentation of the preliminary findings can be downloaded from the column on the top right of this page.