Understanding rural telephone use

Mobile telephone networks in most low income countries have expanded enormously. Many people, even in poor communities, now regularly make calls. But what difference do telephones make to people’s lives? And are they important for development?

Aresearch project funded by the UK Department for International Development examinedrural people’s attitudes towards phones in India, Mozambique and Tanzania. Most people interviewedvalue telephones primarily for dealing with emergencies and keeping in touchwith their families. They do not generally use phones for business activities,although a small proportion does value them highly for this purpose. Phones arevalued more for saving money than for earning it. Very few people find themuseful for gathering information.

Phonesare displacing letters as a means of exchanging social information,particularly to maintain contact with scattered family members. Keeping intouch by phone is particularly valued in Mozambique and Tanzania, where many rural peoplehave migrated to cities or abroad. One third of the study’s respondents inthese two countries receive remittances from absent family members, and someuse the telephone to help arrange them.

Peoplesurveyed in Mozambique and Tanzania prefer face-to-facecommunication for obtaining information specific to their needs. Over half thepeople interviewed get their information from face-to-face contact withteachers, extension workers, customers and business partners for farming, business,education and government matters.

Researchersalso found that:

• Phone ownership is growing rapidly and a high proportion of people who donot own a phone aspire to do so in the near future.
• There is a distinct group of ‘high intensity users’ – those who own theirown phone rather than go to kiosks or neighbours and use it more than once aday: they tend to belong to the wealthiest and best educated social level.
• Radio in African countries and television in India, are still by far the mostwidely used ICTs and are the principal sources of general information such asnews and the weather. People attach high value to broadcasting and, in theresearch countries at least, have confidence in mass media.

Communicationflows are much slower to change than communication technologies. Policymakersshould realise that universal access has substantial social value, irrespectiveof revenue telecommunications operators derive from it. This social value isdistinct from the use of telephones as tools for business development andincome generation.

Policymakersshould also acknowledge:

• the extent to which people value face-to-face communication andbroadcasting
• that theInternet, even when available, has notbecome part of the daily lives of the vast majority of rural people: barriersto use include cost, skill requirements and lack of valued content
• poor people are willing and able to spend a higher proportion of theirincome on telephony than richer people
• ‘development’ is not just about improving incomes, but boosting people’scapacity to deal with crises and maintaining social ties: this is the key valueof phone access for rural people
• the risk that ICTs could contribute to the growth of inequality.