1. www.lirneasia.net Teleuse@BOP Teleuse@BOP : Implications for Civil Society Capacity Building and Democracy Lorraine Carlos Salazar Visiting Research Fellow Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) & Senior Researcher Lirneasia Lorraine@iseas.edu.sg, salazar@lirne.net www.lirneasia.net

2. Outline  Findings from Lirneasia’s 2006 Multi-country Study Background & methodology Everyone has access, but not ownership Usage patterns Who owns phones? Why? BOP is prepaid SMS use and its relative cost Missed calls Internet…what Internet?  Examples of SMS use in the Philippines Akbayan’s use of SMS in election monitoring Among Ed and Grace Padaca, the good and the bad OFW SOS  Reflections and Conclusion

3. www.lirneasia.net Bottom of the pyramid Background & methodology

4. www.lirneasia.net Methodology 6 Focus Group Discussions per country (30) Random sample 8,660 F-to-F interviews; in 5 countries 50% diary Final output Qualitative Quantitative

5. www.lirneasia.net *excluding FANA/FATA – Tribal Areas; **excluding N&E Provinces Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) defined  Many definitions of poverty, but this study uses SEC D and E; b etween ages 18-60  SEC does not take into account income, but it is closely related to income levels PakistanIndiaSri LankaPhilippinesThailand Population (million)1651,095208964 Target population of study (million) 77*2604**4115 SEC D & E SEC A, B & C

6. www.lirneasia.net Quantitative sample  BOP segment is representative of the BOP population Diary respondents also representative of BOP  Small (non-representative sample) taken of SEC groups A, B & C SAMPLE South AsiaSouth East AsiaTOTAL PakistanIndiaSri LankaPhilippinesThailand TOP (SEC A, B & C) 731652596923482,420 BOP (SEC D & E) 1,0813,3484811,0083526,269 Total 1,8124,0001,0771,1007008,689 Error margin at 95 percent CI 2.7%1.5%3.0% 7.0%

7. www.lirneasia.net Teleuse@BOP  ~9,000 sample survey in five countries India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Philippines & Thailand  Understand telecom use at the BOP (= SEC Groups D &E) in Developing Asia  Representative of target population SEC D&E, ages 18-60

8. www.lirneasia.net Country profiles South AsiaSouth East Asia PakistanIndiaSri LankaPhilippinesThailand Population 165 million 1,095 million 19.6 million 89 million 64 million GNI per capita (2005), USD (Atlas) 6907201,1601,3002,750 GNI per capita (2005), USD (PPP) 235034604,5205,3008,440 Population below Poverty Line 32% (est. 2001) 25% (est. 2001) 23% (est. 2005) 40% (est. 2001) 10% (est. 2004) Fixed teledensity (2006) 4.16 (2006 Q4) 4.58 (2006 Q1) 9.50 (2006 Q4) 4.07 (2005 Q4) 10.25 (2005 Q4) Mobile teledensity (2006) 25.22 (2006 Q4) 8.82 (2006 Q1) 27.1 (2006 Q4) 41.30 (2005 Q4) 46.45 (2005 Q4) Internet Users 7.5 million 50.6 million 0.3 million 7.8 million 8.4 million Notes: India on an April – March reporting period ; Pakistan on a July – June reporting period; Other countries follow Jan – Dec (calendar year) reporting periods. Sources: India-COAI, TRAI; Thailand–Company Reports; Pakistan–PTA; Philippines–NTC; Sri Lanka- TRC; 2000 onwards from company reports; World Bank (2006); CIA Fact Book (2005)

9. www.lirneasia.net Bottom of the Pyramid Everyone has access, but not ownership

10. www.lirneasia.net Access (used a phone in the preceding 3 months) South AsiaSouth East Asia PakistanIndiaSri LankaPhilippinesThailand Used phone in last 3 months (% of those randomly approached (all SEC groups) who have used a phone in the preceding 3 months) 98%94%92%93%95%  Most have used a phone in the last 3 months Kofi Annan’s statement in 1999 that “half of the world’s population has not made a phone call” was not true then and absolutely wrong now

11. www.lirneasia.net Time to reach nearest phone the BOP  Most can get to a phone in less than 30 minutes

12. www.lirneasia.net Urban-rural divide: Mostly in Pakistan & India Time to nearest phone

13. www.lirneasia.net Access modes among BOP phone users  S Asia BOP mainly used public phones; SE Asia mobiles

14. www.lirneasia.net High access, but low ownership levels at BOP  Phone ownership is low in South Asia, higher in Philippines and Thailand

15. www.lirneasia.net How often phone owners allow others to use their phones

16. www.lirneasia.net Number of mobiles within the respondent’s household

17. www.lirneasia.net Bottom of the pyramid Usage patterns

18. www.lirneasia.net Source: Diary Average number of calls (incoming & outgoing) per month  Approximately one call per day (except Thailand) Pakistan IndiaSri LankaPhilippinesThailand Average # of calls for a month (in+out) 34.235.123.215.680.3

19. www.lirneasia.net Average call durations Source: Diary

20. www.lirneasia.net Call destination (type of call) Source: Diary

21. www.lirneasia.net Source: Diary Call purposes (primary)

22. www.lirneasia.net Bottom of the pyramid Who owns phones? Why? 29% of BOP in owned a phone in mid-2006

23. www.lirneasia.net Phone ownership: urban vs. rural

24. www.lirneasia.net Mean age of phone owners

25. www.lirneasia.net Why own a mobile phone?  Convenience is key

26. www.lirneasia.net Growth in mobile phone ownership at BOP since 2001

27. www.lirneasia.net Handsets

28. www.lirneasia.net Who decides female ownership of phone at BOP? Patriarchal South Asia, more empowered women in Southeast Asia! % of female mobile owners at BOP Who makes the decision to obtain a mobile (among female mobile owners)?

29. www.lirneasia.net Why own a fixed phone?

30. www.lirneasia.net Older fixed connections

31. www.lirneasia.net Bottom of the Pyramid BOP is prepaid

32. www.lirneasia.net Prepaid vs. postpaid mobile packages (among mobile owners) PakistanIndiaSri LankaPhilippinesThailand Pre Paid99%95%92%99%96% Post Paid1%4%8%1%4%

33. www.lirneasia.net Reasons for choosing prepaid  Prepaid helps to ‘control expenditure;’ reasons are largely cost- related

34. www.lirneasia.net Time to travel to location where mobile owner can re-credit mobile

35. www.lirneasia.net Bottom of the pyramid SMS use and its relative cost

36. www.lirneasia.net Use of SMS at the bottom of the pyramid Lowest SMS prices‘SMS capital of the world’

37. www.lirneasia.net Frequency of SMS use

38. www.lirneasia.net Urban vs. rural SMS use Urban (% of mobile owners) Rural (% of mobile owners) Pakistan55%39% India48%40% Sri Lanka51%63% Philippines100% Thailand49%26%

39. www.lirneasia.net Call vs. SMS charges: Prepaid Prepaid charges (USD) Pakistan: Jazz Budget* India: Airtel regular* Sri Lanka: Dialog KIT standard Philippines: Smart TnT Charge per minute Call to mobile on-net0.030 0.0630.119 Call to mobile off-net0.0410.0490.0630.141 Charge per SMS0.0140.0300.0180.022 * Call charges weighted for local and national calls Charges as at June 2007 Packages selected based on lowest connection charge package of the largest operator Low cost of SMS in the Philippines compared to India, but also higher literacy, Roman-based language and facility in using SMS

40. www.lirneasia.net Bottom of the pyramid Missed calls

41. www.lirneasia.net Use of missed calls: by mobile and fixed phone owners!  Missed calls used just as much in the SEC A,B & C samples

42. www.lirneasia.net Use of missed calls: Males vs. females

43. www.lirneasia.net Other strategies

44. www.lirneasia.net Bottom of the Pyramid Getting connected 115 million from BOP will get connected between mid-2006 & mid- 2008

45. www.lirneasia.net Those that planned to get connected between mid-2006-2008 Prospective owners

46. www.lirneasia.net Projected BOP penetration

47. www.lirneasia.net Most would use phone for emergency communication & keeping in touch

48. www.lirneasia.net Type of phone that prospective owner would buy

49. www.lirneasia.net Bottom of the Pyramid Not getting connected 165 million from BOP will not get connected between mid-2006 & mid-2008

50. www.lirneasia.net The biggest barrier to ownership at the BOP is affordability  29% plan to get connected between mid-2006 and mid-2008 Potential primary market for telecenters  BUT, 42% will not

51. www.lirneasia.net What do we know about this group?  The large majority will be rural

52. www.lirneasia.net What do we know about this group?  Poorer. E.g. The large majority will have monthly household incomes below USD 75.81

53. www.lirneasia.net Bottom of the pyramid Benefits of access to telecom?

54. www.lirneasia.net Efficiency of daily activities  BOP in all countries sees efficiency

55. www.lirneasia.net Efficiency  income benefit?  Indian & Filipino BOP see economic benefit

56. www.lirneasia.net But, sense of security is main perceived benefit  Ability to act in an emergency is key

57. www.lirneasia.net Keeping in touch is important

58. www.lirneasia.net Social status and recognition improves in all countries except LK

59. www.lirneasia.net Bottom of the pyramid Internet…what Internet?

60. www.lirneasia.net Internet use at the BOP PakistanIndiaSri LankaPhilippinesThailand Use the Internet 1.9%0.3%1.5%8.8%10.4% Large gender divide exists, even in South East Asia: for e.g.11.9% of Filipino men at BOP use the internet, but only 5.7 of Filipino women at BOP use the internet

61. www.lirneasia.net Internet use at the BOP cont’d Large urban- rural divide also exists in Internet use at the BOP across all five countries

62. www.lirneasia.net Internet awareness at the BOP Internet awareness at the BOP is poor, especially in South Asia; 36% of Pakistanis at the BOP have not heard of the Internet before.

63. www.lirneasia.net To Sum up  Access to telecoms is high, though ownership is low  People at the BOP are creative and have various strategies in using telecoms: SMS, missed calls, prepaid, use of second hand handsets, etc  Many people at the BOP prefer the mobile, and use prepaid  High access and use means people are familiar with the technology and thus a platform that can be used in developing services that targets people at the BOP

64. Examples of SMS use from the Philippines

65. www.lirneasia.net Examples of SMS Use in the Philippines  DOST’s ICT4D cases on  Governance  Education  Social services  Commerce  Institute of Popular Democracy’s use of SMS in election monitoring  Among Ed and Grace Padaca, the good and the bad  Overseas Filipino Workers SOS Project

66. www.lirneasia.net SMS use in the Philippines

67. www.lirneasia.net SMS use in the Philippines  Institute for Popular Democracy’s SMS-based system for anti-poll fraud and election monitoring (May 2007 elections) In the context of rampant vote-buying and cheating, make citizens guard their votes and return credibility to the system AppliedTechnologies and Information Solutions (ATIS) at www.atis.com.ph www.atis.com.ph Citizens registered before the elections and send SMS to a designated number, which are complied in a data base On election day, about almost a hundred messages from local partners in different provinces were registered in the system. Half of these were verified to contain reliable information on vote-buying, ballot snatching, and election-related threats and violence. Reports complied in a database and forwarded to the Commission of Elections (COMELEC) and other concerned agencies for action

68. www.lirneasia.net SMS use in the Philippines  Among’s Ed’s (Eddie Panlilio) gubernatorial campaign http://amonged.org/ http://amonged.org/

69. www.lirneasia.net

70. SMS Use in the Philippines  Grace Padaca’s campaign

71. www.lirneasia.net SMS use in the Philippines  OFW SOS-SMS project Launched in February 2006, spearheaded by Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) and testing, set-up and database managed by Institute for Popular Democracy Based on system developed by Filipino workers in the Gulf area during Gulf war 6 months after launch, over 800 messages received, which are automatically transmitted to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and Center for Migrant Advocacy as of April 2007, system helped facilitate the return of 215 Filipinos working overseas who were abused or maltreated by employers IPD enhanced the system, built the database and distribution mechanism to respective government agencies

72. www.lirneasia.net In sum…  People at the BOP uses telecoms, frugally, intelligently and creatively  Many are using mobile phones and are planning to get connected  Philippines – SMS use in mobilisation, empowering people, connecting people But same tools can also be used for rumor mongering and to sow misinformation

73. www.lirneasia.net Conclusions  Thus, activists, NGOs, governments should creatively think of how to incorporate the use of mobiles and appropriate ICTs in their work, projects, and campaigns  Bearing in mind of course that social and cultural contexts frame how people adopt and utilise technologies

74. www.lirneasia.net Thank you very much for your attention! Comments and questions?