Rural communications on the global agenda

More than 2.5 billion people (about 40 per cent of the world’s population) live in the rural and remote areas of developing countries where access to telecommunications is still very limited, according to an ITU worldwide survey on rural communications. The issue of communications for rural and remote areas is critical to the ITU membership. From the Valletta Action Plan (1998) to the Istanbul Action Plan (2002) — and more recently the Plan of Action of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Geneva in December 2003 — policy statements and recommendations have confirmed the need to promote basic telecommunication, broadcasting and the Internet as tools for development in rural and remote areas.

Eliminating disparities in access to, and use of, information and communication technologies (ICT) is now firmly on the global agenda. Of the ten targets embedded in the WSIS Plan of Action, “Target 1” specifically underlines “Connecting villages with ICTs and establishing community access points”. In this regard, the report of the survey, conducted by an ITU Rapporteur’s Group studying the question of “Communications for rural and remote areas”, could not have been more timely. Released in June 2004, the survey analysis indicates that many of the problems facing rural areas are outside the scope of telecommunications alone to resolve and require coordination of rural electrification, transport network development, education and training programmes.

*The term respondent is used in this article to indicate the information provided by a responding economy, rather than the individual responding organization.

Figure 1 — Largest age group in rural areas

Besides, there is a need to design more cost-effective technology solutions for rural areas with the needs and economies of rural communities in mind. The extensive data collected from 52* economies across the regions of the world should help the ITU membership examine the means to address the critical challenge of providing connectivity to rural and remote communities. This article highlights some of the findings from the survey.

Percentage of women living in rural areas

There are over 268 million people living in the rural areas of the 52 economies that responded to the questionnaire. As Figure 1 illustrates, the largest age group found within rural areas of these economies is that of young people under the age of 16. The average percentage of women living in the rural areas is 53. However, within some countries, there is significant variation from this median with Uganda, Lesotho and South Africa estimating the percentage of women living in rural areas to exceed 80 per cent of their rural populations.

Income disparity between rural and urban areas

Figure 2 — Comparing income between rural and urban populations

The survey revealed a huge income disparity between rural areas and estimated national income per capita. This disparity presents major problems for operators attempting to deliver services spanning such economic divides. Figure 2 shows data for all the economies that provided information for both urban and rural incomes, except for Cyprus and Japan whose incomes were too large to be represented on the graph. Cyprus reported a rural income of USD 12 000 and a national (urban) income of USD 17 000. In the case of Japan, the rural income was reported at USD 30 000, with national (urban) income at USD 37 500.

Figure 3 — Services in rural areas

Figure 4 — Cost of services

What services are available in rural areas?

Of the small fraction of people in rural areas that have access to telecommunications, radio broadcasting and fixed-voice telephony have traditionally been the main services provided. In recent times, mobile telephony has been critical for enhancing this access, in some economies surpassing fixed lines. Internet-based services are yet to have any significant impact on most rural areas. Figure 3 provides an overview of the services available in the rural areas of respondent economies.
 

E-business and e-commerce could play an important role in enabling local artisans to reach national and international markets ITU 040039/C. Cox

The difference in cost of services between rural and urban areas

Some 69 per cent of respondents stated that prices in rural areas were the same as those in urban areas, while 21 per cent indicated that services were more expensive in rural areas (Figure 4). Even when pricing is the same in both urban and rural areas, income disparities between rural and urban communities make communication services more expensive for rural dwellers. Egypt is the only country to have reported cheaper pricing structures for rural areas.

Access to basic telephony

Some 79 per cent of the surveyed economies responded to the question of access to basic telephony in rural areas. Oman provided data on overall access for both its fixed and mobile networks. The fixed network provides access to 15 per cent of rural Oman, with the mobile network providing 90 per cent of the access. A number of countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Honduras, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritania, Paraguay, Peru, Senegal and Togo have situations where less than 10 per cent of their rural areas have access to basic telephony. Figure 5 shows the range of access in the different economies.

Gender and equal access to basic telephony

Of the 18 economies that answered the question on the percentage of females who have access to basic telephony, some pointed to a continuing and clear bias to male access to telecommunications over female access. Figure 6 illustrates disparities in access where they exist.

Figure 5 — Porcentage of rural areas with access to basic telephony by economy

Policies and strategies to encourage rural access to telecommunications

Around 47 per cent of respondents had universal service obligations in place. A further 28 per cent had legislation, dedicated government agencies or objectives for encouraging rural access but did not specifically mention universal service obligation as a method of encouragement (Figure 7).

Figure 6 — Gender access to basic telephony

Many respondents (53 per cent) indicated that Internet/broadcasting is included in their rural access strategies (Figure 8). Of the 29 economies which answered the question on “Universal Service Fund”, 12 stated that such a fund had been established as part of the universal service or access legislation and a further four countries (Albania, Côte d’Ivoire, Grenada and Kenya) indicated that universal service funds were either in the process of being planned or implemented but not yet fully functional.

Literacy in rural areas

The number of children completing primary school education and illiteracy rates in the respondent economies varied hugely. Figure 9 summarizes data received on the literate population in the rural areas surveyed.

Rural populations and their ICT needs

Figure 10 summarizes the needs of rural people in connection with e-services based on data from 25 economies. E-health, e-education and e-administration top the list as primary needs. ICT training and the need to create awareness amongst rural people of the relevance of e-services were underlined. E-business and e-banking also scored highly, with a number of respondents commenting on how e-business and e-commerce could play an important role in enabling local artisans and farmers to reach national and international markets. Other needs include general ICT access, unrestricted or uncensored Internet access, as well as access to specific Internet services such as e-mail and Web publishing.
 

Figure 7  — Policies and strategies to encourage rural access

Figure 8 — Internet and/or broadcasting in rural access strategies

Main barriers to e-services

Rural areas encompass a range of geographical terrain including forest, desert, grasslands, mountain regions and isolated islands. This constitutes a primary challenge for many rural areas, as difficult terrain, compounded with poor levels of transport infrastructure increase the cost of establishing, operating and maintaining telecommunication infrastructure. Delivering affordable and accessible services to populations with very low disposable incomes and general lack of capital to acquire telecommuncation equipment is another challenge. Furthermore, for many rural areas, ancillary services such as electricity supply are simply non-existent or insufficient. In some developing countries, the deployment of wireless local loop technologies is emerging as a way to overcome such barriers.

High degrees of illiteracy in some rural areas, as well as cultural issues based upon oral traditions rather than written ones are sociological barriers to the adoption of e-services.

In economies where Internet services were reported to be poor or non-existent, suggestions on how to improve this situation were primarily related to infrastructure investment and capacity building. The majority of responses underlined the need to modernize existing infrastructure by replacing analogue systems with digital ones or by purchasing other modern communication technologies that are more suited to rural deployment.

Finally, there is a perceived lack of local content and services relevant to daily rural life, as well as a lack of experience and tools to produce this content in local languages. In general, the Internet is still very much perceived as being oriented towards developed urban environments.

A telemedicine project interconnecting hospitals in Thimphu and Trashiyangtse (Bhutan) via telephone lines ITU 040038/Toka University

For many rural areas, electricity supply is simply non-existent or insufficient ITU 040041/C. Cox

About the survey The survey was conducted between November 2002 and mid-April 2003 and an analysis report has been compiled that will be presented to the September meeting of Study Group 2 of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) for further action. This survey was based on a questionnaire developed by the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), in consultation with the Rapporteur’s Group on “Communications for rural and remote areas”, which works under the umbrella of ITU–D Study Group 2. The questionnaire was sent to all ITU Member States and Sector Members to gather data on the status of telecommunications in rural and remote areas. By mid-April 2003, some 55 responses had been received describing the situation in 52 economies (51 Member States and the Palestinian Authority, which has observer status at the ITU). Chad, which responded after the closing date of the survey brings that number to 53. Data from Chad are not included in this article, but will be incorporated in the final version of the survey analysis report to be made available later in the year.