Title: Avoiding the Digital Divide Hype in Using Mobile Phones for Development
Author: Lindsay Poirier
Source: ICTWorks
Publisher: Inveneo
Date (published): 27/12/2011
Date (accessed): 03/01/2012
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"To all of you digital divide warriors out there – nice work. With over 483 million mobile phone subscriptions in low-income countries - an estimated 44.9% penetration rate, few will deny the success of your efforts to expand mobile technology in the developing world.

Rapid mobile growth rates further exhibit success in dissemination, and stats such as, “There are more mobile phones than toilets in India,“ and “There are more mobile phones than light bulbs in Uganda,” make us smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

While it’s true that, in most cases, these numbers exhibit stimulation in local economies, there are some fuzzy lines when it comes to determining what these numbers mean in terms of mobile phone access and development. The data shows that mobile technology is expanding, but does this necessarily mean that access to technology is coinciding with the expansion?
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