: Implications for Civil Society Capacity Building and Democracy Lorraine Carlos Salazar Visiting Research Fellow Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) & Senior Researcher Lirneasia

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

Bottom of the pyramid Background & methodology

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

*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  SEC does not take into account income, but it is closely related to income levels PakistanIndiaSri LankaPhilippinesThailand Population (million)1651, Target population of study (million) 77*2604**4115 SEC D & E SEC A, B & C

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) ,420 BOP (SEC D & E) 1,0813, , ,269 Total 1,8124,0001,0771, ,689 Error margin at 95 percent CI 2.7%1.5%3.0% 7.0%

 ~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

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) ,1601,3002,750 GNI per capita (2005), USD (PPP) ,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) (2005 Q4) Mobile teledensity (2006) (2006 Q4) 8.82 (2006 Q1) 27.1 (2006 Q4) (2005 Q4) (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)

Bottom of the Pyramid Everyone has access, but not ownership

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

Time to reach nearest phone the BOP  Most can get to a phone in less than 30 minutes

Urban-rural divide: Mostly in Pakistan & India Time to nearest phone

Access modes among BOP phone users  S Asia BOP mainly used public phones; SE Asia mobiles

High access, but low ownership levels at BOP  Phone ownership is low in South Asia, higher in Philippines and Thailand

How often phone owners allow others to use their phones

Number of mobiles within the respondent’s household

Bottom of the pyramid Usage patterns

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)

Average call durations Source: Diary

Call destination (type of call) Source: Diary

Source: Diary Call purposes (primary)

Bottom of the pyramid Who owns phones? Why? 29% of BOP in owned a phone in mid-2006

Phone ownership: urban vs. rural

Mean age of phone owners

Why own a mobile phone?  Convenience is key

Growth in mobile phone ownership at BOP since 2001

Handsets

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)?

Why own a fixed phone?

Older fixed connections

Bottom of the Pyramid BOP is prepaid

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

Reasons for choosing prepaid  Prepaid helps to ‘control expenditure;’ reasons are largely cost- related

Time to travel to location where mobile owner can re-credit mobile

Bottom of the pyramid SMS use and its relative cost

Use of SMS at the bottom of the pyramid Lowest SMS prices‘SMS capital of the world’

Frequency of SMS use

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

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-net Call to mobile off-net Charge per SMS * 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

Bottom of the pyramid Missed calls

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

Use of missed calls: Males vs. females

Other strategies

Bottom of the Pyramid Getting connected 115 million from BOP will get connected between mid-2006 & mid- 2008

Those that planned to get connected between mid Prospective owners

Projected BOP penetration

Most would use phone for emergency communication & keeping in touch

Type of phone that prospective owner would buy

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

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

What do we know about this group?  The large majority will be rural

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

Bottom of the pyramid Benefits of access to telecom?

Efficiency of daily activities  BOP in all countries sees efficiency

Efficiency  income benefit?  Indian & Filipino BOP see economic benefit

But, sense of security is main perceived benefit  Ability to act in an emergency is key

Keeping in touch is important

Social status and recognition improves in all countries except LK

Bottom of the pyramid Internet…what Internet?

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

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

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.

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

Examples of SMS use from the Philippines

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

SMS use in the Philippines

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 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

SMS use in the Philippines  Among’s Ed’s (Eddie Panlilio) gubernatorial campaign

SMS Use in the Philippines  Grace Padaca’s campaign

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

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

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

Thank you very much for your attention! Comments and questions?