Are the Poor Stuck in Voice? Conditions for Adoption of More-Than-Voice Mobile Services
Year: 2011
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Mobile phone access is widespread in Asia; voice connectivity has been achieved for the most part through intense competition, with prices being driven down to almost unsustainable levels. Against the backdrop of intense competition, new services and applications, such as price information alerts, news alerts, mobile money applications, and mobile Internet services, may pro-vide new revenue sources, allowing operators to expand services. More impor-tant, from a development perspective, they also offer a way to get informa-tion and services with lower transaction costs to customers at the “bottom of the pyramid. ” This article examines the use of such “more-than-voice ” services among telecom users at the bottom of the pyramid in emerging Asia. Through a logistical regression model, it attempts to understand what factors can pre-dict their use in order to inform operators on how they can better serve these markets, and to educate policymakers on how they can assist with policies that will favor greater access.
Authors: Ayesha Zainudeen, Dimuthu Ratnadiwakara
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W1495529572