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This paper demonstrates that analysing ICT indicators, based on benchmarking through the application of a dynamic diagnostic approach with context relevant indicators, provides a far more valid evidence-base for ICT policy and regulation than using the ranking of a country on one of the global ICT indices. Both approaches - composite indices and benchmarking - use the same data but differ in how the data is analysed. Both approaches have shortcomings. However, the benchmarking approach used in this paper is seen as the starting point for further analysis, showing clearly the linkages between individual indicators. Global ICT indices, as they are currently formulated, disguise these linkages by providing a composite measure, encouraging the perception that the index is the end result of the analysis, rather than the beginning. Ranking all countries, from poorest to the richest, leads to an automatically high correlation of an index to GDP per capita, making the latter the best predictor for the index score.

This paper analyses the link between mobile termination rate reductions and retail prices. It draws on in-depth case studies of South Africa, Namibia and Kenya where regulators have reduced termination rates towards the cost of an efficient operator. To varying degrees these have all led to lower retail prices and significant market expansion. While retail prices in both Namibia and Kenya dropped following substantial termination rate reductions, the South African case demonstrates that termination rate reductions are not always passed on to consumers as is hoped by such regulatory interventions. In South Africa, it was only after the second reduction in March 2012 that smaller operators were able to reduce their off-net prices to a level that could tempt the subscribers to dominant operators to switch. All the case studies confirm nevertheless that retail prices do not go up in response to termination rates going down as contended by dominant mobile operators around the world. This is in contrast to a body of literature stating that termination rates and mobile retail prices constitute a two-sided market and that termination rate reductions will lead to a so-called "waterbed effect". Termination rates and mobile retail prices do not constitute a two-sided market and termination rate reductions will not lead to a so-called "waterbed effect".The pass-through to consumers of MTR savings is not automatic, and that relatively small reductions in termination rates do not provide new entrants with sufficient room to compete.There is no unidirectional link between termination rates and retail prices, as is often claimed by those defending the status quo of arbitrarily high termination rates.Setting retail prices is not a question of revenue replacement but rather one of profit maximisation in a competitive environment where the choices of one operator influence the revenues and profits of another.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the complexity of prepaid mobile pricing in Indonesia and suggest tools that allow consumers to make informed decisions. Design/methodology/approach – Defining a basket of services and pricing it for all prepaid mobile products available in Indonesia. Findings – Findings suggested the importance of price transparency to ensure that consumers are well-informed concerning the range of services and prices available. Practical implications – The paper provides recommendations for the Indonesian Telecommunication Regulation Agency (BRTI), which could use price baskets to create transparency and monitor price developments in the market. Another measure BRTI could undertake is to require any advertisement to include the cost for a price basket defined by BRTI. Social implications – Price transparency is likely to lead to price competition and thus lower prices and/or better services. The economic impact of lower prices is well documented. Originality/value – The authors have developed a unique basket methodology to address the specific situation in Indonesia.

PurposeInformation communication technologies (ICTs) are widely seen as having the potential to contribute positively to economic growth and development and to improve the livelihoods and quality of life of individuals and households and yet access to ICTs and usage of them remains highly inequitable. This paper aims to identify areas of inequality in access to ICTs between men and women in Africa.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the Research ICT Africa (RIA) household and individual ICT survey conducted in 17 African countries between 2007/2008 the paper provides an empirical basis for assessing gender dimensions of ICT access and usage. Additionally, focus group studies were conducted in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda to gain a greater qualitative understanding of access to and usage of ICTs from a gender perspective.FindingsAlthough the results confirmed in many countries the widely held belief that men have greater access to ICTs than women in some instances more women than men owned mobile phones such as in South Africa and Mozambique. In Cameroon women were found to have greater knowledge of the internet than their male counterparts. Most significantly perhaps is the finding that when women have similar income, education and employment status they have comparable access to ICTs as their male counterparts. However, as women generally do not have the same access to those core factors that enhance ICT access and usage, their access to ICT is generally lower.Originality/valueThe quantitative as well as focus group results of this study confirm gender differences in access to ICTs, raising important questions about the points of policy intervention to redress such imbalances.

This paper presents an assessment of existing mobile application (app) business models that are targeted at people living at the base of the pyramid (BoP) or that are suitable for people living at the BoP. The purpose of the paper is to address specific pain points for app developers and to provide practical, actionable advice. The recommendations of this paper are specific to each of four countries: Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zambia. In assessing the app markets in each of the four countries, it quickly becomes clear that there is a wide range of business models. Part of the business model is unique to the sector and to the business problem that the app is attempting to solve. In order to provide maximum value for app developers, this research focuses on three areas that are common to all business models: *Revenue sources - How to generate revenue is at the heart of any business model. App developers have to choose how to make money from their products and services. The options include in-app advertisement, pay per download of content or app, in-app purchases, upgrade of a free app to a more feature-rich one in exchange for a fee (freemium) and subscriptions. *Distribution channels - The availability of a mobile application is dependent upon its distribution network. Distribution can take place either via an app store, a mobile operator (through USSD services, for example) or through a local distribution network. *Payment facilities - The main payment options for app developers include premium SMS, airtime transfer, mobile money and bank-based payments such as electronic transfers and payment by cheque, or with debit and credit cards. In addition to an analysis of the three common business model areas, there is a brief assessment of the significant role of incubators in in supporting app developers. However, the impact of incubators is only partially realised and the paper has several recommendations. The key findings in each of the three business model areas as well as for app incubators are: *Revenue sources - Multi-sided platforms are an under-exploited business model. Providing a service to consumers that is paid for by businesses - the other side of the platform - means that apps are more likely to make a profit and be sustainable. Of course, the multi-sided model is dependent on addressing a problem or need experienced by both sides of the equation: consumers and businesses. *Payment facility - Premium SMS is the ideal payment facility because it reaches all mobile subscribers regardless of phone type. However, premium SMS is challenging because the MNO revenue share can be very high. Nevertheless, the finding of this report is that rates are negotiable and MNOs are beginning to realise that their high revenue share is slowing market growth. At the same time increasing Smartphone penetration and mobile money adoption rapidly creates alternative payment facilities, outside MNO control. *Distribution platform - MNO stores are ideal distribution channels because of their access to local subscribers, but this is unrealised. As a result, independent distribution is the most common option. For feature phones, the Ovi Store is a viable alternative but this is only an option in Nigeria where the Ovi Store has a local presence. As smartphone adoption increases, Google Play will become dominant, and there is a commercial opportunity for Google in terms of registering developers as merchants. Currently, this is not possible in any African country. *Incubators & hubs - Every hub or incubator visited by the team was staffed by inspiring and motivated personnel. It is clear that the more structured the environment, the more beneficial the process will be for developers in terms of providing specific programs at regular and planned intervals. The target is to better mix the commercial realities of launching a business with the technical skills already available in each of the hubs. This paper identifies business models for mobile applications that target the BOP, i.e., those that live on less than US$2.5 a day and that are revenue generating in in Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia and Mozambique. The key theme informing the analysis was as follows: can an environment be created that would support an explosion of mobile applications such as in Europe and North America? There is clearly an opportunity - in 2012, the mobile application economy was worth US$53 billion and is expected to expand at a 28% compound annual growth rate up to 2016, reaching US$143 billion. In comparison, the app economy in Africa is minuscule, and the likelihood of the number of mobile applications growing explosively is low. GitHub, an online resource for developers to store code, shows that only 0.12% of its users are from Africa out of a developer base of nearly 4 million.

“Wireless mobile services for the delivery of broadband provides false hope for the future and promotes inefficient use of resources in the present”, Eli Noam argued in Lusaka, one of the least connected capitals in the world. Applying his 2011 paper, Let Them Eat Cellphones: why mobile wireless is no solution for broadband, in which he rejects proposals in the United States for the deployment of mobile wireless services to meet rural broadband needs to Africa, he argued that the cost of mobile wireless deployment was only cheaper in the short term. The high costs associated with matching constantly growing demand with limited supply of spectrum, he argued, meant that mobile did not enjoy the longer term economies of scale that fixed-line investments did. Noam also cautioned against underestimating the power of video, to which he attributed broadband take up in the United States. He challenged the notion that communities forced to access video on mobile wireless networks would simply accept poorer quality services than their urban or wealthier counterparts, who were able to receive the array of high-quality digital services on offer.

This paper examines three barriers to effective policy-making and regulation in developing countries: inefficient operators; information asymmetry between regulator and operators; and where the role of the regulator to balance the interests of consumers, competing enterprises and investors is not being fulfilled. The paper demonstrates how ICT research of Research ICT Africa in combination with multiple communication strategies have been used to assist regulators and policy makers in making informed decisions and led to market liberalization and legislative and regulatory reform in Namibia. A presentation on research results to the Namibian president and cabinet in 2006, private sector co-funding of research projects, over 80 newspaper articles covering research results, 21 magazine articles, six target policy briefs, radio and TV interviews, face to face consultations all helped shaping public opinion and informing policy makers and regulators. This paper describes how ICT research was translated into useful information and advice for policy makers and regulators by working with journalists, providing strategic information to the private sector, researching issues for the regulator and maintaining impartiality.

Mobile cellular telephones have been the success story of communications globally. In the developed world, mobile telephony is traditionally seen as being complementary to fixed-line telephony, primarily because of its pervasiveness but also because the fixed-line network provides access to other technologies such as broadband. This article finds that, in nine African countries, in contrast to the developed world, mobile telephony is a substitute for fixed-line telephony - across all income groups and not just low income households as previously thought. The article argues in addition that pre-paid payment options (not just for mobile phones) are key to increasing use by low income households because irregular incomes do not support regular financial commitments in terms of contracts.