Close to 1 million families are in the poorest quintiles in Ecuador, and that means they are under the poverty and extreme poverty line. Most of these people belong to the Human Development Group (HDG), and they receive conditional cash transfers between $ 50 USD and $ 100 USD to improve their live conditions. Currently, 35% of these families own at least one mobile phone. On the one hand, consumption in voice or data traffic service as a percentage of the income of an average subscriber is around 5% to 8%, but for people who are in the HDG group that have mobile phone, this percentage is between 18% to 25%.

Therefore, the project consists in establishing and promoting reduced tariffs to mobiles services (voice and data) from stakeholders to HDG group with the objective of balancing the conditions with those groups and an average user. In general, that mechanism will be able to allow a saving of up to 70% in voice services and 89% in data for this vulnerable group.

http://www.arcotel.gob.ec/proyecto-de-tarifas-sociales/

• Ecuador

• Women
• Indigenous and nomadic peoples
• People with disabilities
• The poor
• Remote and rural communities
• Human development group people (HDB) who receive conditional cash transfers

This project can be replicable in any part of the region or the world. First, there must be an information baseline for people who are below the poverty line and that information must be shared with the mobile operators, so they can focus the benefit of preferential tariffs only to groups that the service is not affordable.

Secondly, the next step is to bring content to the people of the human development group (HDG) that they can access in order to aid in the education of themselves, seeking information, improving the sales process of their products, and so on.

Finally, there must be the commitment and social responsibility of the operators in promoting regulatory action through offers that allow the potential subscriber of the HDG group an easy acquisition of the service.

This project is sustainable because it is focused on the purchasing power of the families that belong to the Human Development Group (HDG) to access voice or mobile data services. On the one hand, the State contributes conditional cash transfers to the families to this vulnerable group, and also generates the conditions of affordability through the mechanism of social tariffs so that they can access the service through the packages that offer mobile operators in conditions that guarantee a minimum capacity for their communication as an average user.

This project promotes two main WSIS values: freedom and equality. The first one is related to the women empowerment through the use of technology because most of the head of household of the families that belong to the Human Development Group (HDG) are women and they are in the rural regions. And, on the other hand, it promotes equity through the promotion of affordability to telecommunications services for both the average user and the subscribers who belong to the poorest quintiles.