The Social and Economic Implications of

Mobile Telephony in Rwanda

Jonathan Donner

Presentation : Anousha Fluck

Main area of exploration: How the digital divide in Rwanda has created alternative uses for the mobile

phone, such as the phenomenon of ‘Beeping’

List of top smart phone penetration rates

• Rank . Country . . . . . Population . . Subs . Sm'phones . Migr.Rt . . Per Capita

1 . . . . Singapore . . . . . . . . . 4.9 . . . 8.1 . . . 4.4 . . . . 54% . . . . 90%2 . . . . Hong Kong *** . . . . . 8.0 . . . 14.0 . . . 4.9 . . . . 35% . . . . 61%3 . . . . Sweden . . . . . . . . . . 9.3 . . . 13.6 . . . 4.8 . . . . 35% . . . . 52%4 . . . . Australia . . . . . . . . . 21.6 . . . 29.8 . . . 10.2 . . . . 34% . . . . 47%5 . . . . Spain . . . . . . . . . . . 45.5 . . . 58.9 . . . 20.8 . . . . 35% . . . . 46%tie 6 . . Denmark * . . . . . . . 5.5 . . . 7.6 . . . 2.4 . . . . 32% . . . . 44%tie 6 . . Israel *** . . . . . . . . 7.0 . . . 11.0 . . . 3.1 . . . . 28% . . . . 44%tie 8 . . Finland * . . . . . . . . 5.4 . . . 9.6 . . . 2.3 . . . . 24% . . . . 43%tie 8 . . Norway * . . . . . . . . 4.9 . . . 6.2 . . . 2.1 . . . . 34% . . . . 43%10 . . . New Zealand ** . . . . 4.3 . . . 5.5 . . . 1.8 . . . . 33% . . . . 42%

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• http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2011/12/smartphone-penetration-rates-by-country-we-have-good-data-finally.html

Rwanda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lOSL1KyeG0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIGEg2PDbMA

Digital Divide• Jan van Dijk and Kenneth Hacker (2003) distinguish

four barriers to access to digital services.

• Lack of elementary digital experience

• No possession of computers and network connections

• Lack of digital skills

• Lack of significant opportunities -> In the case of Rwanda there is a lack of usage access.

• http://vis4.net/blog/posts/mapping-internet-and-population/

Beeping by Donner

• Mobile’s feature is connectivity. The benefits are both positive economic and social changes.

• powerful technique to maximize the benefits of a mobile whilst minimizing money expenditure

• In Rwanda users have taken this to next level by diversifying this practice. There are three kinds of beeping

• Call back

• Pre-negotiated instrumental

• Relational

• allowing users to feel connected.

• It is a “phatic communication” signaling the existence of a relationship or communication channel.

mobiles are rewriting the spatial and temporal constraints of all manner of human communications – whether for working family, or recreation and entertainment

• http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/27/tech/mobile-culture-usage/index.html

However…

However:• Smart phones are still not fully exploited• no location based services (LBS) – which makes navigation,

maps, google maps relies on LBS to find destinations• lack of apple-supported networks e.g. Iphones do not

recognize phone number if it comes with a country code –comes up with ID-mismatch

• Lack of app development – more work on SM based solutions to help similar phones do things like buying power, use twitter, interact with banks.

• Andriod is more popular• Combined with limited number of people with purchasing

power to buy apps.

Discussion

• 1. Form groups 2. discuss with class

• When you wake up in the morning how long is it until you use your mobile or Internet?

• How would you feel if your mobile and Internet was taken off you for 3 days?

• Do you think you could organize your life without your mobile?

• Choose one question and

• Tweet #MDIA5003 your answer

bibliography

• Mobile Telephony in Rwanda: An Ownership/Access Typology, Kowledge, Technology, & Policy, 2006, vol.19, No.2,pp.17-28•

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• Donner, J (2007), The rules of beeping: Exchanging messages via international “missed calls” on mobile phone, Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 1.http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/donner.html

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• Jan van Dijk & Kenneth Hacker (2003): The Digital Divide as a Complex and Dynamic Phenomenon, The Information Society: An International Journal, 19:4, 315-326

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• Aisch, G , ‘Visualiziing the Global Digital Divide by Mapping Internet and Population’, 21/10/2011,accessed 5/10/2012, http://vis4.net/blog/posts/mapping-internet-and-population/

• our bibliography should look something like this – LastName, FirstName.(Month Day, Year).'Title of the Article' Retrived Month Day, Year from the website: http://www.abcde.com

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• TheVJMovement, ‘Rwandan Farmers Empowered by Mobile Access to Market Prices’, April 12, 2011, accessed 4/10/2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lOSL1KyeG0

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• Canton N, 20120, ‘Cell phone culture: How cultural differences affect mobile use’, September 28, 2012, accessed 4/10/2012,http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/27/tech/mobile-culture-usage/index.html

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• December 12, 2011, Smartphone Penetration Rates by Country, accessed 7/10/12, shttp://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2011/12/smartphone-penetration-rates-by-country-we-have-good-data-finally.html

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• Bight E, 2012, ‘Smartphone still not fully exploited in Rwanda’, Monday April 30th 2012, accessed 7/10/12• http://focus.rw/wp/2012/04/smartphones-still-not-fully-exploited-in-rwanda/