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Presentation byDipl.-Ing. Agr Marcus Koll

PhD Studentmarcus.koll@uni-bonn.de

Zentrum für EntwicklungsforschungCentre for Development ResearchUniversity of Bonn, Germany

Telecommunication Usein Akatsi, Rural Ghana

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Content

1. Akatsi - an Overview2. Questionnaire Design3. Telecommunication-Use Overview

3.1 Landline Use3.2 Cell Phone Use3.3 Internet Use

4. Summary5. Outlook

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1. Akatsi - an Overview

Akatsi district – Southern Volta region

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1. Akatsi - an Overview

Population: 93,483 (2002)

District area: ca. 1000 km2

Around 75% of the population of the district works in agriculture

Main crops: maize, cassava, sweet potato, groundnuts and vegetables

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1. Akatsi - an Overview

Around 20 public telephone booths available in Akatsi Town

Three mobile phone providers are used: Areeba, One-Touch and Tigo

One existing Internet-Cafe in AkatsiTown

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2. Questionnaire Design

The Questionnaire contains 3 main parts:a. General household informationb. Information about use of

telecommunication services and information flows

Questions about Landline, Cell-phone and Internet useQuestions about purposes of information search etc.

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2. Questionnaire Design

c. Information about the economic activities and performance of the households

Sample Size:

Random sample of 362 Households in Akatsi-Town, Agbedrafor and Gefia

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3. Telecommunication-Use Overview

Source: Akatsi Household Survey 2006 and Akatsi Screening Survey 1999 by Dr. Bertolini

85

35

12 13

52

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

ICT USE

%

Landline use

Cell Phone use

Internet use

No technology use 2006

No technology use 1999

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3. Expenditures for Communication

Source: Akatsi Household Survey 2006

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

3000000

3500000

Lowerincome

thanaverage

Averageincome

Higherincome

thanaverage

Average total monthlyexpenditure

Average monthlyexpenditure fortelecommunication

5,7% =54k Cedi

7,4% =120k Cedi

6,9% =217k Cedi

X = 950k

X =1,620k

X = 3,145k

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3.1 Landline Use

More than 9% of the Households reports, that they have their own landline installedMore than 20 public phones are installed in AkatsiCommunication Centres more or less vanished

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3.1 Problems of Landline Use

Only 26% of landline users reported to have no problemsThe same number of respondents are complaining that it is to expensiveOther Problems are: Faulty telephone booths, bad line quality and also corruption

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3.1 Facilities of Landline Use

Source: Akatsi Household Survey 1999 by Dr. Bertolini and HH Survey 2006

87

9

27

62 1

15

53

0102030405060708090

100

Own Pho

neNeig

hbours

telep

hone

etc.

Commun

icatio

n cen

ter

Telephon

e booth

%19992006

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3.2 Cell Phone Use

Space to Space Operators replaced Communication Centres in the 3 villages quite completelyAround 55% of the Households reports, that they own at least one Cell-PhoneThe main boost in Cell-Phone use was in the last 4 years

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3.2 Development of Cell-phone

Source: Akatsi Household Survey 2006

Start of Cell-phone use

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

In thelastyear

2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 before2001

Year

Häu

figke

it

Häufigkeit

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3.2 Distribution of Providers

20%

75%

5%0%

One TouchArrebaTigoKasapa

Source: Akatsi Household Survey 2006

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3.2 Benefits of Cell-phone use

Source: Akatsi Household Survey 2006

9,80

16,14

6,45

1,93

36,30

27,59

1,790,00

5,00

10,00

15,00

20,00

25,00

30,00

35,00

40,00

No ben

efit

It is l

ess e

xepe

nsive

It tak

es le

ss tim

e

It allo

ws immed

iate f

eedb

ack

Very fa

stGoo

d ava

ilabil

ityOthe

r (spe

cify)

%

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3.2 Problems of Cell Phone Use

Only 16% of the respondents report to have no problemsThe most problems are reported according to bad network connectionAround 30% of the respondents think it is still to expensiveOther problems range from Ear-pains, corruption to especially the recharging problem

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3.3 Internet Use

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3.3 Internet Use

One Internet cafe in Akatsi town itself (the next are in Aflao and Sogakope) 5 Computer in use with 1 Dial-up connection1/3 of the time out of business in the last 12 month, according to power cuts, line failures etc.

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3.3 Problem of Internet Use

The main problem is the lack in computer skillsAround 40% of the users are complaining it is to expensive (12,000 Cedis/h in Akatsi)Further Problems range from slow speed to line failures and the suspicion to be cheated

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4. SummaryEspecially the introduction of Space to Space made telephone services available in a broader scaleEven if still problems are reported, all in all, the quality of services increased (but not optimal)Need for an rural perspective in national ICT development strategies

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5. Outlook

First step:Modeling determinants of ICT use

Maximum LikelihoodEstimation (odds ratio)

Second step:Identifying changes in ICT use

Third step:Assessing welfare

Descriptive statistics

Measuring compensating Variation

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5. Outlook

Qualitative analysis of ICT strategies to identify the key-elements for rural communities

Using the results from the econometric analysis to support the qualitative analysis

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Thank you very much !!