CPRSouth8/CPR Africa 2013: Innovation & Entrepreneurship in ICT: Changing Asia/Africa, Mysore, 5-7 September 2013

Citation

Simon, G.d.P.a.J.P. (2014), "CPRSouth8/CPR Africa 2013: Innovation & Entrepreneurship in ICT: Changing Asia/Africa, Mysore, 5-7 September 2013", info, Vol. 16 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/info-02-2014-0008

CPRSouth8/CPR Africa 2013: Innovation & Entrepreneurship in ICT: Changing Asia/Africa, Mysore, 5-7 September 2013

Article Type: Conference Report From: info, Volume 16, Issue 3

Dharma regulation has little effect, while persuasion has much more effect”, Emperor Ashoka (269-32 BC)[1]

Financial inclusion technology, policy and implementation

This joint CPRsouth/CPRafrica 2013 conference[2] opened with a session devoted to financial inclusions and the role of information technology (IT) in India[3]. Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala (Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India) described the rocky road and government initiatives to make financial tools available to most of the Indian population, as the lower middle classes and those with low income were still financially excluded. A regulation was introduced for rural branches of banks with rural “correspondents”. It triggered the growth of microfinance for small loans (not asset based). Another regulation allowed mobile payments, thereby reducing the costs of the provision of services. However, there are challenges owing to tensions between bank and IT regulations.

Samit Ghosh (Founder and Managing Director of Ujjivan Financial Service)[4] described how India has been trying to achieve financial inclusion for over a century, starting with the cooperative movement in the early 1900s. The middle class got access to banking services within the last 15 years of the previous century (1985-2000). It had a tremendous impact but still left out some 600 million working poor with income <Rs 90,000 per year (around €80 per month). Therefore, different kinds of microfinance have been introduced: micro credit, micro insurance and micro pensions. IT technologies are being used to reduce banking costs; for instance, an online provision of service can bring the cost down to one-tenth of the cost of a branch service to a customer.

Vinita Godinho (CRC Researcher, RMIT University, Australia) dealt with remote indigenous Australians, noting that financial exclusion was growing in Australia with around 17 per cent of the “under banked” (up to 43 per cent for indigenous). She stressed that “indigenous money” was culturally distinctive in crucial ways, “standard” (mainstream) money being disconnected from traditional indigenous knowledge. Therefore, financial education programmes must take this cultural dimension into account. Because mobile phone technology is very familiar to remote indigenous users, it could be a key enabler. She concluded that policies meeting the needs of the most marginalized under-banked community in Australia could also help to address the needs of other marginalized under-banked Australian communities.

Ali Ndiwalana (Research ICT Africa) concentrated on the informal sector in four East African countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania). The informal sector is a mainly cash- and face-to-face-driven sector that constitutes a “safe haven” for the poor, the majority of them without any bank account. Mobile money has a wider reach: mobile money agents, by far, outnumber banks and ATMs. Cash is still “king” among informal businesses, but mobile money is gaining ground. However, if mobile money is cheaper than bank transfers for small transactions with a significant order of magnitude[5], it is still much more expensive than cash. Quoting the example of mobile operators acting as a bank in Pakistan, he suggested changing regulatory systems to allow mobile operators to become banks or banks to operate as mobile virtual network operators. Joseph Kariuki Nyaga (KU Leuven – Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and ICT, Belgium) gave another overview of mobile money across the East African community, stressing as well that the legislative and regulatory frameworks do not adequately address the technological and regulatory convergence phenomenon. Access for potential new entrants who can disrupt the lucrative business models of the banks and of the mobile operators should be allowed.

Fortune Nwaiwu (University of Leicester/Nigerian Economic Summit Group) focused on the adoption and the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) by small businesses in Lagos (Nigeria)[6]. The study found a low level of use compared to other African countries, and a strong preference for cash-based transactions over online transfers, retailing or point of sale terminals.

What works and what does not?

Ibrahim Kholilul Rohman (Chalmers University, Sweden) attempted to measure the potential impact of access and uses of ICT on the household income of the bottom of pyramid users (BOP; with revenues up to $1.5 per day) in Indonesia. The research was based on the Teleuse@BOP4[7] survey in Indonesia. For both urban and rural areas, the productive uses of mobile telephony are significantly increasing the likelihood of earning a higher income. Access to mobile telephony is significantly increasing the likelihood to earn a higher income for BOP users by an average increase of 28 per cent of the household income per month. The urban poor benefit more (34.2 per cent) than the rural poor (25.9 per cent).

Tawonga Kayira (Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority, MACRA) analyzed the promotion of ICT universal access in rural areas in Malawi. He noted that little progress has been made in improving ICT development for the majority of poor rural Malawians. MACRA together with the Public Private Commission have promoted multipurpose community telecentres (MCTs), which have had little success in improving use of the Internet in Malawi. He stressed the importance of integrating poverty reduction strategies with ICT development.

Ranjula Senaratna Perera (LirneAsia, Sri Lanka) assessed large ICT-enabled development initiatives (telecentres) to deliver public services in Sri Lanka (under “e-Sri Lanka”) and Bangladesh (under “Digital Bangladesh”). Their 2012 survey found a low use in Sri Lanka and higher use in Bangladesh. In the case of Sri Lanka, the location appeared to be a key reason for low use, with more competition form neighbouring telecentres and a negative perception of the location within religious establishments. In Bangladesh, the range of services offered and greater needs (lower literacy/education/ increase need for assistance, lower income and ICT ownership [3 v. 14 per cent in Sri Lanka], government info/services harder to access than in Sri Lanka) may account for the positive results. Participants asked whether telecentres were still relevant instruments with mobile broadband Internet.

Although, Senegal is recognized for developing one of Africa’s most extensive and modern telecommunications infrastructures, Cheikh Dramé (independent researcher) synthesized some rather negative experts’ views of the policies. Their views reveal some misunderstanding and/or miscommunication between the government and “independent” telecommunications experts, low government effectiveness (instability and lack of defined strategy) and a lack of an independent and strong regulatory authority. Two other presentations offered similar results about the institutional framework and the autonomy of the regulator: Giri Hallur (Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management, Pune, India) comparing the ICT regulatory framework of seven countries (USA, UK, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Malaysia and Pakistan) and Moinul Zaber (Carnegie Mellon University) stressing the negative impact of uncertainty around the regulatory decisions on the rate of telecommunication infrastructure deployment.

Drivers of policy change

Christoph Stork (ICT Research Africa) gave a detailed overview of Internet penetration (with Internet use more than doubling over the past four years) and the state of broadband based on a nationally representative household and individual survey in 12 African countries[8]. The data show that the voice battle was lost by fixed-line operators in Africa over the past decade and that the data battle may be lost soon as well, as fixed-line operators mostly offer asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), which can no longer compete with mobile broadband speeds. He stressed that fixed-line operators need to change their losing strategies and start investing in new technologies, very high bitrate digital subscriber line (VDSL) or fibre to the home, to stand a chance against mobile broadband. It means focusing on data only through flat-rate pricing and ignoring traditional voice revenues altogether. Under appropriate regulatory conditions (such as structural separation), converting all existing fixed-lines into data lines would increase broadband penetration drastically in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

Margaret Nyambura Ndung’u (Tshwane University of Technology, Kenya) similarly showed the key role of mobile Internet for the growth of the Internet in the specific case of Kenya: 16.4 million Internet users in Kenya (34 per cent of the total geographical area) and 9.6 Internet subscriptions, the mobile network covers 89 per cent of the population, i.e. 75.8 per cent (29.8 million) subscribers (98.7 per cent prepaid), 99 per cent per cent of Internet users in Kenya accessed via mobile devices (dongles or direct). She also backed regulated infrastructure sharing, mandatory provision of content over mobile as well as an increased involvement of government in m-government.

Mohamed El-Moghazi, (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK) investigated the international spectrum management regime managed by the international telecommunication union (ITU) and its role for emerging countries. He showed that, despite some resistance to new services and technologies, this international spectrum management regime is not completely a case of regulatory lock-in for the developing countries. On the contrary, much to the surprise of developed countries, in 2012, African and Arab countries called for an immediate allocation of broadband spectrum (in the 694-790 MHz range: so called second digital dividend) that was not part of the initial World Radio Conference 2012 agenda. Eventually, after some resistance from European countries, World Radio Conference 12 agreed to such allocation. This decision was a significant challenge to the decision-making procedures of the international regime of the ITU.

Gender in ICT policy

Mariama Deen-Swarray (Research ICT Africa), presented a sex-disaggregated overview of ICT access and use 11 African countries. The study confirmed the findings of the few systematic national and multinational studies in this area: women and men are not equally able to access and use ICTs. This gap increases as the technologies and services become more sophisticated and expensive, requiring greater levels of income and education to access and operate. However, these inequities in access to and use of ICTs are not an output of ICTs and, therefore, cannot be addressed through ICT policies. For instance, as stressed by Alison Gillwald (University of Cape Town, Director Research ICT Africa) policies focusing on IT (women’s tariff) are likely to miss the point. Other policy interventions (education…) are required.

Ranmalee Gamage (LirneAsia) found, based on the multicountries Teleuse@BOP studies, that mobile ownership is not significantly affected by urban or rural locations. Nevertheless, there is a gender effect on mobile ownership. The example of Pakistan shows that the odds of mobile ownership amongst rural men increase by 246 per cent if they have primary education, but by 1,157 per cent among rural women if they have primary education.

Luke Younghoon Chang (KAIST University, South Korea) came to similar conclusions in the case of Iran: those who are disadvantaged in public space usually are not advantaged in cyberspace. Women who do not feel safe or do not participate in group activities in public space behave almost in the same manner in cyberspace. He concluded that empowering women to be more active and creative citizens could lead to an increase in participation in cyberspace. In another presentation, he dealt with the motivations and concerns of Facebook users in Iran. The Iranian government considers joining the social network space (SNS) as a political action. SNS is not only controlled by the government but by people as well (the two forming “a pair of invisible eyes”) through the pressure of religion and customs in virtual space. Therefore, most participants experience a sphere of insecurity and distrust. Again, women experience the same male dominance with Facebook as in other public and social spaces. He concluded that people have too many concerns when using SNS or the Internet in Iran, a likely barrier to its growth.

Mpho Moyo (Research ICT Africa), adding another perspective on the role of the informal sector for entrepreneurship, showed that women face the same structural constraints encountered in the formal sector, limiting the choices they can make. Indeed, women lag behind men in terms of income and education, facing limited access to financial resources and to the formal banking system. The research also shows that although gender gaps were found in the access and use of ICTs, gender alone could not be the contributing factor, as results varied significantly across countries.

Jude William Genilo (University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh) tackled a different issue of how to attract and keep Bangladeshi women in the ICT profession. He concluded that a gender-based strategy dealing with other societal issues may help: parental, school and workplace support.

Benefits of using ICT: health, agriculture, tourism and training

Charles Katua (University of Nairobi, Kenya) assessed the impact of the introduction of new technology (fibre-optic broadband) on the value chain of the tourism sector in Kenya. He found that it enabled both re-intermediation with changing roles of legacy players and disintermediation (direct online sales to customers) with the entry of new agents in the field (“beach operators” and virtual operators). Customers benefit from an increased bargaining power and more transparency of the market.

Jayalakshmi Umadikar (IITM’s Rural Technology and Business Incubator, India|) illustrated through a case study how ICT could help deal with the crisis Indian agriculture is facing, as the reach of ICT (300 million rural subscribers) is constantly increasing. The government of Tamil Nadu has been relaying agricultural advisories by means of a “push” voice-message system since August 2012. The study demonstrates the power of such services over mobile phones to deliver customized information and seek feedback/create data.

Hasib Ahsan (independent researcher, mPower, Bangladesh) followed a two-month pilot study on the use of mobile phones for livestock management. The study started under the premise that experienced veterinarians were rare and expensive, but that mobile coverage was available in almost every place of the country. The field trial showed that local veterinarians, backed by remote expert veterinarians, can check the information of cattle through a web interface and can generate prescriptions through SMS or voice calls.

Jaime Manalo (Development Communication Division, Philippine Rice Research Institute) took a careful look at the potential role of high school students as information providers for their parent rice farmers[9]. In mobilizing the students, a mix of online and offline means were employed. The research shows that the students have moved from being passive members of the household to becoming active participants in decision-making, acting as various forms of “infomediaries” (champion, initiator and ally).

Sathya Priya Kittusami (IITM’s Rural Technology and Business Incubator) reported about the role of technology to facilitate the implementation of India’s national tuberculosis (TB)[10] control programme to improve irregular or incomplete treatments (drug adherence and follow up). A study among TB patients shows that calls have aided enrolled patients, and that categories of patient with a higher probability of treatment failure or defaulting have been cured in the presence of mHealth interventions.

Tonny Omwansa (School of Computing and Informatics, University of Nairobi) focused on the development and usage of mobile applications at the BOP in Kenya. The country, a pioneer country in m-payment, has a high mobile penetration (ownership upwards of 75 per cent in Kenya, 60.5 per cent of BOP population owned a mobile phone), but a low apps adoption by BOP. Numerous start-ups are developing applications (>80 applications), but they are hardly taking off. The poor, who are the main target, hardly know about them; and developers do not appear to understand their needs. He advised more support to local mobile applications developers to bridge that gap.

Yvonne Loh (Nanyang Technological University, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Singapore) followed a panel of 50 unemployed workers trained in ICT skills. The initial assumption of the research was that increased skills and knowledge would result in better job placement and opportunities for the unemployed worker. The working hypothesis was not be confirmed, the training in ICT did not directly help in job placement, but trainees’ self-confidence in ICT skills positively affected job interview outcome.

Conclusion

Some strong consensual lines emerged from the presentations and debates:

* Emerging countries can build on the availability of mobiles on their way to broadband Internet. Besides, access and use of mobile phones are likely to have positive impacts on the revenues of the BOP households.

* IT is bringing costs down, allowing innovative applications to blossom (finance, agriculture, health and so on).

* There are tensions between regulations: mobile money is a good example of the need to better coordinate the legislative and regulatory frameworks to address the technological challenges more accurately.

* ICTs per se are not likely to reduce other major societal issues. These inequities in access to and use of ICTs (e.g. gender gap) are not an output of ICTs, therefore, they cannot be addressed through ICT policies. Therefore, other policy interventions, like education, are required.

* Broader issues around social stratification and wider issues of affordability and availability still need to be appropriately addressed.

* The views expressed are purely those of the authors and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of their institutions.

Notes

1. Quoted by SamitGosh.

2. See http://www.cprsouth.org/cprsouth8-cprafrica-2013/ Communication Policy Research: south (CPRsouth) intends to build human capacity in the South by reinforcing and developing the knowledge, skills and commitment of ICT policy and regulation scholars in the region or with substantial interest in the region. The overall objective is to create policy intellectuals capable of informed and effective intervention in ICT policy and regulatory processes in specific country contexts.

3. Papers, presentations and policy briefs are available at: http://www.cprsouth.org/cprsouth8-cprafrica-2013/agenda/

4. A micro finance institution established in 2005 which provides financial services through a network of 310 branches to over 1.1 million urban and semi-urban poor spread across 21 states and union territories in India. See: http://www.ujjivan.com

5. In Uganda, the mobile charge on a $1 transfer would be of around 30 per cent, while a bank will charge >500 per cent and, respectively, 2.8 and 10.4 per cent over a $50 transfer.

6. Lagos is the most populated city in Nigeria, with a population of about 18 million, the second fastest growing city in Africa (seventh fastest growing city in the world), and is Nigeria’s main commercial hub.

7. Available at http://lirneasia.net/projects/2010-12-research-program/teleusebop4/

8. Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

9. An ordinary farmer in the Philippines earns a little more than US$2 daily.

10. Each year, 330,000 Indians die out of TB and 2 million new cases are reported.

Giuditta de Prato and Jean Paul Simon

Jean Paul Simon (corresponding author) is the Director at the JPS Public Policy Consulting, Seville, Spain; Giuditta de Prato is based at the European Commission Joint Research Centre, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Seville, Spain.