Mobile Opportunities: Poverty and Mobile Telephony in Latin America and the Caribbean

During 2006-07 DIRSI conducted a multi-component regional study on ICT access strategies and usage patterns by the poor, with a specific focus on mobile telephony. A key assumption underlying the study was that the dominant narrative about shared broadband access as the most cost-effective ICT access strategy for the poor ignored opportunities opened up by the explosive growth in mobile telephony coverage and take-up in the region (thus our title, Mobile Opportunities).

The results from the seven-country survey (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, and Trinidad & Tobago), as well as in-depth interviews in two countries (Jamaica and Peru), confirmed the extent and depth of the diffusion that mobile telephony has achieved among poor households. However they also underscored two factors that mitigate the potential opportunities arising from this expansion in mobile teledensity: first, that significant access and usage gaps are still present, in part resulting from tariff structures and commercial models that inhibit access and discourage broader use; and second, that few made use of mobile services beyond voice, partly as a result of lack of appropriate mobile applications for the poor.

The results of the study were extensively covered in the general as well as the specialized press, and DIRSI members have been presenting findings in regional and international meetings and conferences. In providing evidence on the positive economic and social impact of mobile telephony use by the poor, the study succeeded in influencing the policy agenda, promoting serious discussion about affordability of mobile telephony (particularly in Mexico and Peru, countries that were revealed to be falling behind in mobile diffusion among the poor), and about the opportunity to promote the delivery of a broader range of applications through the mobile platform.