Internet Kiosks in Rural India: What Influences Success?

In this paper we investigate an example of a very widely applied model for the delivery of IT services to rural and poor populations. The model is one where limited intervention to support infrastructure and coordinate resources is combined with market-based delivery of IT services to the end user (what we call here the "sustainable franchise model"). Though this model has been deployed world-wide by governments, NGOs, and development institutions in the past few years, few researchers have studied the determinants of success in such a model. In this paper we examine the example of n-Logue, a franchise of over 1000 locally-owned, internet kiosks in rural villages in India. We seek to assess how this new sustainable franchise model has worked in practice by analyzing data from 74 of n-Logue's kiosks. Among other things, we find that gender and education do not affect success, while location and other measures of social standing (age and caste) do. We also find that the uses that villagers have for IT services are not so different from those which first world users have. The lessons we draw from this example are that while local customs and practices must be taken into account (e.g. the caste system), it is not a foregone conclusion that social biases (e.g. against women) cannot be mitigated by good program design

Network Economics and the Digital Divide in Rural South Asia

The concept of a 'global digital divide' is now common, and many cross-country studies of determinants of differences in computer and Internet penetration have been performed. The main conclusions and policy implications from these studies are relatively blunt: get richer, have more telephones, and regulate telecommunications better. In this paper, we examine an alternative approach to bridging the digital divide, through organizational innovations that provide low cost Internet access in developing countries, within the existing conditions of income levels, telecommunications infrastructure and regulatory environment. We use survey data from 500 individuals in three South Asian countries, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, to examine factors influencing patterns of computer and Internet use. These individuals were in situations where computer and Internet access has been provided by a developmental agency (government or non-government). We estimate logit and multinomial logit models, using explanatory variables such as income, household size, education, and occupation, as well as infrastructure factors such as quality of electricity supply, and availability of telephones and televisions. Thus we are able to go beyond simple analyses of penetration at the country level, to understand the microeconomics of computer and Internet use in rural South Asia

Network Economics and the Digital Divide in Rural India

The idea of a 'global digital divide' is well accepted, and cross-country studies of determinants of differences in computer and Internet penetration have identified income, telecommunications infrastructure, and regulatory quality as key influencing factors. The policy implications from these studies are relatively blunt: get richer, have more telephones, and regulate telecommunications better. In this paper, we examine an alternative policy approach to bridging the digital divide, through organizational innovations that provide low cost Internet access in developing countries, within the existing levels of income, telecommunications infrastructure and regulatory environment. We use survey data from 500 individuals in four states of India: Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan, to examine factors influencing patterns of computer and Internet use. The situations in which data was collected were ones where computer and Internet access was being provided by a developmental agency (government or non-government). We estimate logit and multinomial logit models, using explanatory variables such as income, household size, education, and occupation, as well as infrastructure factors such as quality of electricity supply, and availability of telephones and televisions. Thus we are able to go beyond simple analyses of penetration at the country level, to understand the microeconomics of computer and Internet use in rural India. In particular, by examining patterns of use, we are able to comment on the importance of network externalities for diffusion of computers and the Internet in these local rural contexts