India's connected poor

The proverbial “two square meals” a day continue to elude them, but the poor in India are determined to stay connected. And so, they are buying more mobile phones than ever, knocking the radio off popularity charts. A study by LIRNEasia, a Sri Lanka-based information and communication technology (ICT) policy and regulation capacity-building organisation, found that of 100 bottom-ofthe-pyramid (BOP) households in India, 50 had TVs, 38 had phones and only 28 had radios.

“A mobile gives you information when you want it, where you want it. It’s with you. If you think a farmer, who wants to know the price of sugarcane, is getting it while he’s in his tractor, definitely the mobile is superior in that way,” Rohan Samarajiva, CEO of LIRNEasia, said, explaining the phenomenon.

That most poor Indians agree with this explanation is evident in the study. Asked by the LIRNEasia team “Do you use it (the mobile) for business purposes at least once a day?”, 70 per cent poor Indians said “yes”.