Newswise — Aija Leiponen, associate professor at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University and Pantelis Koutroumpis, research fellow at the Imperial College Business School, published a study showing a mobile divide between individuals and households in urban or affluent areas and those in rural or lower-income areas.
The study, published online in the journal “Telecommunication Policy,” maps the location and density of regular wireless base stations and femto-cells – small wireless antennas used in areas of poor mobile coverage. It finds that low-income regions receive almost 15 percent less network coverage compared to their affluent counterparts. Wealthier households in poorly covered areas compensate by buying femto-cells, while their poorer neighbors do not.Media Note: An online copy of the study “Crowdsourcing mobile coverage,” is available here. A print copy of the article is forthcoming.
Leiponen says:
“Low income regions are found to receive almost 15 percent less coverage compared to their affluent counterparts and have two fewer telecom base stations installed for equal distributions of subscribers. Base stations tend to be at least three times further from lower-income subscribers.
“Within poorly-covered areas, wealthier households are able to compensate by investing in femto-cells but poorer households are often excluded from communication networks and the Internet.
“Our results reinforce the belief that there is a mobile divide between individuals and households in urban or affluent areas and those in rural or lower-income areas. Insufficient mobile coverage may further contribute to the decline or slower development of these areas.”
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