Mobile Service Cost Profiler

Published in: Engineering for a Smarter Planet: Innovation, ITC, and Computational Tools for Sustainable Development: Proceedings of the 9th Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Engineering and Technology
Date of Conference: August 3-5, 2011
Location of Conference: Medellin, Colombia
Authors: Mark Lessey
Kim I. Mallalieu
Refereed Paper: #203

Abstract

Poverty has a destabilizing effect on development. Sustainable development programmes therefore often prioritize innovative poverty reduction interventions. Increasingly, Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have become standard in these interventions: from the acquisition, dissemination, management, storage and access of information to the engagement of multiparty stakeholders using synchronous as well as asynchronous interactive communications.
Key stakeholders in ICT for development programmes are the poor themselves. Tools, mostly based around the ubiquitous mobile phone, have been developed to empower low-income earners in their commercial activity which may include voice, messaging, and even email and other Internet-based communications. Corresponding mobile services are available through packages representing mixes of traditional voice (PSTN) service and “text”- based, as well as Internet-based, data services. While these packages offer rich choice, selection from amongst them is confusing for users and for those developing pro-poor, pro-market interventions. This paper discusses the implementation of a tool which computes the comparative profile of costs for various mobile services to achieve specific profiles of communications activities and its application is discussed in the context of Trinidad and Tobago. The “Mobile Service Cost Profiler” represents a key resource for the planning of pro-poor, pro-market mobile innovations for sustainable development in the Americas.