Network development: wireless applications for the next billion new users

Citation

Mahan, A.K. and Melody, W.H. (2009), "Network development: wireless applications for the next billion new users", info, Vol. 11 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/info.2009.27211baa.001

Network development: wireless applications for the next billion new users

Article Type: Guest editorial From: info, Volume 11, Issue 2

Dedicated to the memory of Amy Mahan

It is with great sadness that we announce that Amy Mahan died on 5 March 2009 of cancer at the age of 47. She continued working with a quiet determination until the end.

Behind Amy’s charming personality was a person who chose a career path primarily devoted to helping others with her exceptional skills in research support, editing and report presentation. She strongly believed that the weakest link in the research process was effective dissemination. She made major contributions to all the organisations in which she worked, including LIRNE.NET and WDR, CIRCIT, Telecommunications Policy, several university programs and a wide range of independent publications.

This is a tragic loss to family, friends, colleagues, the ICT research community and also to info, where she had recently taken on the role of Book Reviews Editor. She will be missed and remembered warmly. As the principal editor of this special issue, it is fitting that we dedicate it to her.

Mobile networks have more than doubled the global penetration of telecom connections in recent years to the point that more than half the world’s population now has access to some form of voice communication. This dramatic extension of telecom networks has been driven by relatively expensive prepaid services that poor people have been able to adapt in many ingenious ways to improve their lives. Thus, the telecom infrastructure for development, previously seen as the extension of fixed networks, is now recognized as predominantly mobile.

This special issue of info examines some important aspects of mobile development that will shape the next phase of network extensions to provide access to more people and more services. It examines some of the limiting factors of our understanding of the current state of development that has resulted from the rapid mobile expansion in recent years; and, based on developing country case study analysis it points to opportunities for the further extension of networks and services at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP).

Generally accepted data on mobile penetration has seldom been subjected to critical scrutiny. It is apparent that the “one person for every phone” assumption is not a good proxy for population coverage, access or market penetration. There is rapid obsolescence and turnover in mobile phones. Some people have more than one phone, or SIM card, while others share phones. Methods for calculating the number of prepaid users vary among operators and are often based on speculation rather than actual experience, and also vary significantly when applied by different operators. Ewan Sutherland’s research calls into question the validity of mobile operator data and makes a case for a thorough review of the different dimensions of mobile penetration and their measurement to obtain unambiguous data sets and a better understanding of the multiple dimensions of mobile penetration.

Judith Mariscal reports on a detailed empirical analysis of mobile market development in Latin America documenting the constraints on development resulting from the duopoly market structure. This in turn is traced to the limited allocation of spectrum and licenses. The spectrum limitation is a serious one for future network development in many countries. Although the limited number of licenses is commonly blamed on the limited supply and capacity of the spectrum resource, in most cases it is the result of poor spectrum management that fails to allocate the spectrum resource efficiently in response to demand. Spectrum reform is essential if the potential of the next phase of mobile development is to be achieved. For further development at the bottom of the pyramid, unlicensed spectrum for WiFi applications offers significant opportunities in many countries, if spectrum policies permit.

Mobile market development in many countries has been within duopoly or oligopolistic structures characterized by little price competition and exorbitant termination prices. In those few countries where the oligopolies have been broken by additional entry into the market, prices have fallen dramatically, stimulating rapid market expansions and the adoption of BOP business models of development, such as has occurred in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and hopefully will spread across the developing world.

Of course, the main common element across the developing countries is low penetration levels of all ICTs. Beyond that there are many different developing country environments – all of them with their own particular connectivity challenges. Michael L. Best and Dhanaraj Thakur, in their Liberia case study, and Rohan Samarajiva and Nuwan Waidyanatha, in their work on complementary mobile technologies for disaster risk warnings, explore telecom policy in particularly difficult and critical conditions: post-war reconstruction and reaching all populated sectors (including sparsely populated remote areas) with disaster risk warnings.

The Liberia case study considers the telecom policy process in immediate post-conflict Liberia and explores how this differs from extending the network in non-war torn circumstances. Among others, their findings reveal that there has been little work done in this area and that a better understanding, for example, of how different structures of collaboration, such as the Liberian Reconstruction and Development Committee, could influence how development partners go about supporting telecommunications or other policy processes in post-conflict states.

The Samarajiva and Waidyanatha paper shows how cell broadcasting and SMS can extend the reach of emergency communication networks to respond more effectively to disasters. Disaster risk reduction is of critical importance with the high level of disaster occurrence in Asia during the past five years having killed around half a million people. Most of these deaths could have been prevented if reliable and effective early warning systems had been in place.

The next three case studies look toward to next stage opportunities for developing economies. Two case studies from Ghana and a further one from Jamaica illustrate how new applications of mobile services in developing countries can not only provide additional benefits to the poor but also provide a stronger justification for extending networks to serve more of them.

In an exploratory survey, Araba Sey considers market extension possibilities via shared phones in Ghana. Her findings however point to the respondents desire for personal phone ownership – with people not really being thrilled to share their phone on a regular basis, but more willing to do so when there is real or urgent need; and conversely, people preferring not to borrow, using their own SIM card or payphones and preferring to own and use their own handset. This small survey was undertaken to explore the hypothesis of shared use as a possible network extension strategy and indeed, points to areas warranting further investigation around user behavior and shared use.

Survey results from 600 respondents are assessed and discussed in Godfred Frempong’s work on heightening the opportunities and effectiveness of micro and small enterprises in Ghana by introducing mobile and new mobile applications into the sector. The study comprises different possibilities for integrating mobile including data on respondents’ education background, level of current use of mobile for business activities, monthly expenditures on business call, transport costs, problems encountered with use of mobile telephony, among others. A key finding is the urgent need for development of applications targeted at this sector.

Hopeton S. Dunn’s Jamaican case study links high mobile penetration rate among the poor to a latent demand for broadband services that can only be effectively provided over mobile. Building on the findings of a national household survey and follow-up ethnographic study, Dunn observes that Jamaicans are avid consumers of ICTs that are priced within their reach. This currently does not include desktop computers. Hence there is a good opportunity for development of mobile Internet applications and easy-to-use platforms.

Overall the papers in this issue indicate a need to reassess our knowledge of mobile penetration in developing countries, and to reconsider the next stage of mobile development at the BOP. To-date in most developing economies we have seen piecemeal successes from first wave regulatory reform, and competition not having delivered the anticipated results and in may cases having fostered a return to duopoly or oligolopolistic markets rather than vibrant ones with many new entrants. Further, new technological opportunities are being stemmed by regressive regulation. The evidence from this special issues points to a need for much deeper understanding of developing economy mobile markets and users within these markets. We need clearer indicators and sector information to identify what has worked and what has been hype, and subsequently to use this deeper understanding in support of a paradigm shift in ICT policy, designed to truly serve all sectors of the population.

Amy K. Mahan,Coordinator at LIRNE.NETWilliam H. MelodyAdvisor to and former director of LIRNE.NET.

Acknowledgements

LIRNE.NET gratefully acknowledges support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

About the Guest Editors

Amy K. Mahan is global coordinator for the research network Learning Initiatives on Reforms for Network Economies (LIRNE.NET). Current research areas focus on ICT for development, regulatory information practices, ICT indicators, public access to the internet, and civil society participation in policy and regulatory processes. As a founding member of LIRNE.NET, she works to ensure wide dissemination of the network’s research products and works with the other project leaders to coordinate research practices across the regional centers – including the DIRSI network in Latin America and the Caribbean. She also is a member of the Gates Foundation and IDRC project to value the role of public access in contributing to economic development. Recent works include a report prepared for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) “Toward a single ICT index: considerations for the formulation of a single ICT index for the ITU” (2008, with Mike Jenson); Diversifying Participation in Network Development (World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies, 2007, with W.H. Melody); Stimulating Investment in Network Development: Roles for Regulators (World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies, 2005, with W.H. Melody); and How to Build Open Information Societies (UNDP, 2004, with Yuri Misnikov).

William H. Melody, a native of Hamilton, Ontario, is Managing Director of Learning Initiatives on Reforms for Network Economies (LIRNE.NET) and the World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies (WDR). He is Visiting Professor at the Center for Information and Communication Technologies (CICT), Technical University of Denmark; Media@LSE, London School of Economics; LINK Centre, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; Distinguished Visiting Professor (2004), Law School, University of Toronto; and Emeritus Professor, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. Melody was awarded the honorary degree of doctor technices, honoris causa, in recognition of his “outstanding research contributions on the interaction between technology, economics and regulation in the area of communications, with emphasis on telecommunications,” by the Technical University of Denmark (2001). Former Chief Economist, US FCC, and adviser and expert witness for the US Department of Justice in US vs. AT&T, Melody has a PhD in Economics (Nebraska, 1966), and has held academic appointments leading new multidisciplinary programme development in seven countries: University of Pennsylvania 1971-1976; Simon Fraser University 1976-1985; Economic and Social Research Council and Oxford University 1985-1989; Center for International Research on Communication and Information Technologies, Melbourne 1989-1994; Technical University of Denmark 1995-1997; Delft University of Technology 1997-2002. Melody is a contributor to the research and policy literature with more that 150 publications, and former editor, Telecommunications Policy, and Policy Review editor, info. His edited volume, Telecom Reform: Principles, Policies and Regulatory Practices (1997), is used in training programs in more than 100 countries. He is a periodic consultant and advisor to universities and research centers around the world, for UN and other international organizations, government and corporate organizations.