Analyzing the Mobile “Digital Divide”: Changing Determinants of Household Phone Ownership Over Time in Rural Bangladesh

Abstract

BackgroundWe had a unique opportunity to examine demographic determinants of household mobile phone ownership in rural Bangladesh using socioeconomic data collected as part of a multiyear longitudinal cohort study of married women of reproductive age.ObjectivesThis paper explores how the demographics of household mobile phone owners have changed over time in a representative population of rural Bangladesh.MethodsWe present data collected between 2008 and 2011 on household mobile phone ownership and related characteristics including age, literacy, education, employment, electricity access, and household wealth among 35,306 individuals. Respondents were enrolled when found to be newly pregnant and contributed socioeconomic information once over the course of the time period serving as a “sample” of families within the population at that time. Univariate and multiple logistic regressions analyses were performed to identify the socioeconomic determinants of household phone ownership.ResultsAcross 3 fiscal years, we found that reported household ownership of at least 1 working mobile phone grew from 29.85% in the first fiscal year to 56.07% in the third fiscal year. Illiteracy, unavailability of electricity, and low quartiles of wealth were identified as overall demographic constraints to mobile phone ownership. However, over time, these barriers became less evident and equity gaps among demographic status began to dissipate as access to mobile technology became more democratized. We saw a high growth rate in ownership among households in lower economic standing (illiterate, without electricity, low and lowest wealth index), likely a result of competitive pricing and innovative service packages that improve access to mobile phones as the mobile phone market matures. In contrast, as market saturation is rapidly attained in the most privileged demographics (literate, secondary schooling, electricity, high wealth index), members of the lower wealth quartiles seem to be following suit, with more of an exponential growth.ConclusionsUpward trends in household mobile phone ownership in vulnerable populations over time underline the potential to leverage this increasingly ubiquitous infrastructure to extend health and finance services across social and economic strata.

Determinants of readiness to adopt mHealth in a rural community of Bangladesh

“…1). Access to technology depends on socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, and education [41]. Attitude, intention to use and awareness of the available technologies and services are interconnected [42].…”

There’s No App for That: Assessing the Impact of mHealth on the Supervision, Motivation, Engagement, and Satisfaction of Community Health Workers in Sierra Leone

“…Despite the ubiquity and increased access to mobile technology among vulnerable populations worldwide, 50 effectively extending such applications into health services and programs requires a greater integration with human intent, capacity, and resources. 51 In other words, technology on its own is insufficient to target and strengthen underlying organizational factors, in all their complexity.…”

Adoption of Mobile Phone Messages for Delivery and Newborn Care in Bangladesh

“…Additionally, messages were often not accessed because participant women had forgotten to keep adequate balance in the phone or did not find the information interesting. However, lack of personal phone and coordination with family members in arranging shared phone sets stood out to be the foremost barrier that prevented participant women from getting regular weekly information (Huq, Azmi, Quaiyum, & Hossain, 2014;Khatun et al, 2017;Poorman, Gazmararian, Elon, & Parker, 2014;Tran et al, 2015). Participant women, who did not own their phones or shared phones with family members, relied heavily on the phone owners to access the messages.…”

“…Mobile phone subscriptions have sky rocketed in Bangladesh; in 2012 total subscribers increased from 86.5 to 97.1 million in a year amongst a population of almost 150 million people (BTRC, 2012). There is a reliable platform for mHealth interventions and increasing mobile phone ownership among women (Khatun, Heywood, Ray, Bhuiya, & Liaw, 2016;Tran et al, 2015). However, there is little evidence on the effectiveness of mobile phone based educational services on delivery, and pre-and postnatal care in Bangladesh.…”