MOBILE PHONES AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION: A SURVEY STUDY IN RURAL TANZANIA

1. Introduction
Over the past decade CUBOT S200 cell cellphone possession and utilization has extended in Tanzania. Although cell
cellphone utilization started in major places, the support has quickly distribute in rural places as well, wherever the
system is available. Apart from the extended cell cellphone utilization, there has also been a rise in the variety of
system suppliers. While in late 90's there was only one mobile phone system provider, to date there five system
providers: Tigo, Vodacom, Zain (formerly called Celtel), Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL),
and Zantel. Improved competition among system suppliers has led to decrease of expenses for cell cellphone
customers.
It is approximated that over 8 thousand Tanzanians own a cell cellphone with a transmission amount of about 21 %
(Wikipedia, 2008). Several research have recognized a variety of factors for having or using a ECOO E04 cell
cellphone (e.g., Samuel et al., 2005; de Silva & Zainudeen, 2007; Donner, 2005; Souter et al., 2005); Chakraborty,
2005; and Sridhar & Sridhar, 2007). Some of the recommended factors include interaction with buddies, keeping
connections, urgent circumstances, help in job search, and company networking.
Access to telecommunication has been mentioned as a factor for socio financial development especially in rural places
(Samuel et al., 2005). It has been recommended that mobile interaction improves development, relieves poverty, and
helps in conquering the recognized digital split (Chakraborty, 2005). Although mobile phones cannot provide a remedy
for all development problems, De Silva & Zainudeen (2007) recommended, however, that there is an ample proof that,
used in the right way and for the right objective, mobile phones can have a important outcome in dealing with
particular public and financial developing goals as well as play a key role in a wider nationwide development
strategies.
Although numerous research associate cell cellphone utilization with socio financial development, the real effect of
cell cellphone use among the inadequate in Tanzania is not exactly known. For example, in research by Samuel et al.
(2005), it was discovered that over 85 % of 223 individuals questioned used mobile phones for improved connections,
contacting buddies and about 10 % said that using a cell cellphone was expensive. Samuel et al. (2005) discovered that
individuals at all earnings stages were able to accessibility mobile solutions either through having or discussing a
phone; and they discovered that sex, age, knowledge, and earnings do not seem to represent limitations to accessibility.
According to de Silva & Zainudeen (2007), there seems to be mixed feelings on the recognized financial advantages of
CUBOT S200 cell cellphone use, especially among the end inadequate. For instance, about a quarter of the lowest Sri
Lankans revealed that immediate accessibility mobile phones has complicated their ability to generate or preserve. De
Silva & Zainudeen (2007) discovered that accessibility telecom is not actually seen as improving the earning and cost
preserving potential perhaps because individuals at the end inadequate do not use phones directly for company reasons.
They discovered that over 80 % of members from Pakistan, Indian, Sri Lanka, the Malaysia and Thailand used mobile
phones to keep in touch with family associates while less than 15 % used for company reasons.
Tanzania is one of the lowest nations in African-american and in the world with a inhabitants of about 38 thousand
individuals, yet Tanzania is one the top nations (in conditions of percentage of population) in African-american in
having and using mobile phones. It is approximated that there are about 8 thousand cell cellphone entrepreneurs in
Tanzania creating about 21 % of the people in this country. This determine is only an calculate since there individuals
who own more than one cellphone. Vodacom alone has over 4 thousand customers. The Democratic Republic of
Congo, on the other hand, which has a inhabitants of over 65 thousand, for example, has about 5.9 thousand cell
cellphone entrepreneurs, equivalent to 9 % of the people in this country.
Poor individuals both in city and rural places in Tanzania strive and preserve to be able to buy a cell cellphone.
Although some individuals use mobile phones for beeping (Donner, 2007), it is still surprising that over 40 % of
Tanzanians stay on less than a money per day (UNCTAD, 2007) yet many are able to purchase and use mobile phones.
Donner (2007) defined beeping as contacting a variety and clinging up before the mobile owner can pick up the
contact. Usually a individual beeps when he/she has no enough credit or air time.
1.1: Problem Statement

Although many scientists (e.g. Sridhar & Sridhar, 2007; Souter et al., 2005; Chakraborty, 2005; Samuel et al., 2005;
and Donner, 2005) see mobile phones in creating nations in a generally positive light, the effect of mobile phones on
the indegent in Tanzania has not been substantiated empirically. That is, there is still a gap in our knowledge on
whether ECOO E04 cell cellphone possession decreases or improves earnings poverty, especially among the rural
inadequate. De Silva & Zainudeen (2007) advised for further research into this place to help understand you will of the
connection between telecom accessibility and earnings. They recommended that phones alone can not be a silver topic
that will bring the hundreds of many individuals out of poverty in the creating nations.
This study takes a critical position towards the effect of cell cellphone possession on earnings poverty among the rural
inadequate in Southern Highlands of Tanzania. Focus is placed on how the indegent use mobile phones and whether or
not they forget about various development actions for phones. The research is targeted at substantiating whether
mobile phones can be said to decrease or improve earnings poverty in rural places of Tanzania.

This study has five particular objectives:

To identify factors among the rural inadequate for purchasing mobile phones
To determine the resources of earnings among the rural inadequate for keeping the phones
To compare peoples earnings stages and the cost of using and keeping mobile phones
To determine whether the rural inadequate forget about other actions like knowledge, outfits, and decent meals for
mobile phones
To investigate whether mobile phones have raised the owners earnings.
2. Research methodology
This research was performed using surveys for details selection. We designed the set of concerns in two short focus
get together with a variety of ICT4D (information and interaction technology for development) scientists. The set of
concerns was applied in a variety of Iringa rural towns that were within or close to cell cellphone system protection.
The example was a convenience example (Bernard, 1995:95). The surveys items contains concerns on cell cellphone
utilization in regards to earnings poverty factors. The surveys were in English, but we provided support for those who
required help in filling up the set of concerns.
2.1: Questionnaire Design
The set of concerns was targeted at figuring out whether or not cell cellphone possession decreases or improves
earnings poverty. There were three types of concerns in the questionnaire: closed finished concerns, attitude/perception
(Likert scale) concerns and start finished concerns (see, e.g., Bernard, 1995). The set of concerns included a common
details part (age, sex, marriage position, profession, and residence) and six categories of other concerns, concerning 1)
factors for purchasing CUBOT S200 cell cellphone, 2) resources of earnings for keeping cell cellphone, 3) servicing
expenses, 4) other non-income advantages, and 5) what were their common feedback about cell cellphone and
earnings poverty. Moreover, there were four more claims with which the members were required to amount their
contracts on a Likert range. The claims were: Having a cell cellphone decreases earnings poverty
Cost of operating cell cellphone are comparable to benefits
Mobile cellphone decreases focus on other actions and
Mobile phones get individuals to forget about other considerations
Concerning market concerns, we requested the respondents age, sex, marriage position, profession, and place of
property. First of all, we hypothesized that older and younger individuals may have different opinions about this
research. Therefore, the age structure was regarded essential for determining the age team that most use/own mobile
phones, and for the objective of showing difference of opinions about cell cellphone usage/ownership and poverty
decrease. Secondly, as it is widely considered that more men than females own/use mobile phones in rural Tanzania,
we wanted to see also whether this speculation turned out to be true. Additionally, we targeted at figuring out whether
marriage position of members associated with mobile phones possession or use in the study place. Furthermore, it is

usually considered that paid and entrepreneurs utilize and own mobile phones more than unsalaried individuals.
Therefore, we included a question about respondents profession. Fifthly, we desired to discover out whether the
geographical location and accessibility primary facilities, such as power, impact cell cellphone possession or use.
2.2: Participants
There are 22 towns in Iringa rural region, of which 12 towns are within cell cellphone system protection. Those towns
are located along the primary streets such as Morogoro street, Mbeya street, Dodoma street, and Ruaha National park
street. The frequented towns were Lundamatwe, Mahenge, Tanangozi, Ifunda, Lungemba, Ihemi, Kalenga, Nzihi,
Kidamali, Tungamalenga, Ndul,i Isimani, and Mkungugu. We chosen 400 individuals from these towns by talking to
individuals in the towns and asking which ones of them possessed mobile phones. Of the members, 77.75% were male
and 22.25% were female. There were 60 salarymen or salarywomen, 284 peasants, 16 entrepreneurs or
businesswomen, and 40 learners.
2.3: Analysis
The set of concerns outcomes were examined by two primary techniques. Thematic research was used for qualitative
details whereby respondents opinions and ideas were classified into styles. However, within a lot of the generated
details it was challenging to understand clear styles. The writers therefore, regarded the based concept, specifically
particular programming, as the most appropriate tool.
Using the particular programming, details were examined according to the variety of programming techniques which
seemed to follow one another in the degree of intensity. The following techniques were followed in planning and
categorizing those data:
All documented surveys were transcribed exactly
The completed transcriptions were carefully examined according to particular programming.
Categories were designed to reflect the reactions of the members, and also protect the various styles existing in the
surveys.
Seven core categories were then recognized and examined
Simple illustrative research such as cross tabulation and connection research were used for quantitative details.
3. Results
The outcomes of this research are derived from the set of concerns details using both quantitative and qualitative
methods. Already in a lead survey a variety of concerns were observed to be challenging and they were consequently
updated or left out. Hence almost all concerns were answered.

3.1: Respondents common information

The common details of the study inhabitants was described with regards to age, sex, profession, marriage position, and
place of property. All the mentioned factors were regarded to be essential for the study since they would provide the
common features of the team that most own or use mobile phones. Desk 1, shows the demographical details on
members. The first line shows categories in each place of interest; the second line indicates the variety of members in
each category; and the third line indicates the relative variety of members in each classification.

Table 1 shows complete of four hundred (400) members who were questioned during details selection process. It also
shows that from each of the chosen 12 towns, all chosen members were successfully questioned. In our example, the
largest age number of ECOO E04 cell cellphone entrepreneurs was the cohort of 18-25 decades of age, followed by the
cohort of 26-35 decades of age. The trend in the table indicates that cell cellphone entrepreneurs / customers are
relatively adolescents. This outcome is, however, not definite as several kinds of example error can impact this
outcome and many market and social details can be offered to this trend. For example, many of our members were
individual (about 70%) and may have less family associates responsibilities than the wedded people.
Although the study targeted at having many people of sexes among members, we were able to discover much fewer
females who own/use mobile phones than males who own/use mobile phones. In our example, we had 311 (77.75%)

men who owned/used mobile phones while females were 89 (22.25%). Of our members, 280 (70%) were individual,
100 (25%) were wedded, 17 (4.25%) were separated/ divided, and 3 (0.75%) were widowed.
Majority of the members (71%) were peasants, 15% were paid, 10% were learners, and 4% ran their own company.
However, we do not have a particular purpose to describe why the example included no jobless individuals although
Tanzania has a relatively high lack of employment amount. Nonetheless, in our example peasants and studentswho
are regarded to have low incomewere well showed. Also, according to the National Institution of Statistics (NBS,
2007) there seems to be higher lack of employment amount in towns (Dar es Salaam alone 31%, other towns 16%)
than in rural places where the amount is about 7%. The lower lack of employment amount in rural places may also
describe the movement of labor force from towns to towns.
Majority of our members (97.25%) resided far from electric energy provide while only 11 (2.75%) resided near electric
energy provide. We discovered out that most members who stay far from electric energy provide move lengthy ranges
and invest lots of your energy and effort asking for the battery energy of their mobile phonestime that they could
use for other productive actions.
3.2: Basis for purchasing mobile phone
We discovered that individuals had bought mobile phones for various factors. Most of the members had bought their
cell cellphone for keeping public relations (74%). The next inspirations were keeping in contact with buddies and
spouse (13%), company (7%), urgent circumstances (5%), and others factors, such as reputation factors (1%).
In common, the cost of purchasing as exposed by the study varied from 40.000200.000 shillings (TZS) ($33$167;
24118). However, 80% of the members possessed or used mobile phones that were priced between 50.000100.000
TZS. Furthermore, 58% of the members used mobile phones for beeping and contacting, 15% only for beeping, and
10% for messaging, contacting, and beeping. Only 2% of the members used cell cellphone only for sending and
receiving SMS messages. As many as 57% of members revealed non-income advantages, such as replacement for
transport, as well as flexibility.

3.3. Types of earnings for keeping mobile phone

In inclusion to the cost of mobile phones and factors for obtaining them, we desired to discover out the resources of
earnings that members used for air efforts and for re-charging battery energy. In Tanzania, many individuals do not
have power, so they pay a small fee to other natives for re-charging their mobile phones.
Table 2 represents respondents resources of funding for using and keeping mobile phones. The research exposed that
62% of the members financed their cell cellphone use through company or agribusiness while 28% got their air efforts
and renew fees as gift, and 15% from their wage. Remarkably, our outcomes exposed that 48% of the members
revealed that they sometimes alternative essential needs (e.g. knowledge, purchasing food, and clothes) for cell
cellphone ownership/usage.
The study was also intended to know the monthly earnings of the members. Desk 3 summarizes the earnings of
members. With the current forex of european and US money, 50.000 TZS is equal to to 41$/29, 100.000 TZS is
equal to to 83$/59, 200.000 TZS is equal to to 167$/118, 300.000 TZS is equal to to 250$/176, and 400.000 TZS is
equal to to 333$/235.
Table 3 shows the submission of members in the earnings classes. Desk 3 indicates that most members (52.5%)
generate profits between 50.000 and 100.000 shillings monthly and a fifth of members generate profits between
100.000 and 200.000 shillings. There were only 2 (0.5%) members with an earnings of 400.000 and above.

3.4. Maintenance costs

We were also interested in knowing how much members invest on their CUBOT S200 cellphone monthly, such as air
efforts and re-charging battery energy. Desk 4 demonstrates the servicing expenses exposed from the study.

Figure 4: Respondents Maintenance Costs.


The set of concerns study exposed that greater part of members (66%) invest between 15.000-30.000 TZS monthly on
operating expenses of their mobile phones followed by 98 members (24.5%) invest 30,000 45,000 TZS. While 18
(4.5%) use less than TZS 15,000 and 20 (5%) use more than TZS 45,000 monthly on operating expenses of their
mobile phones. On top of that, greater part of members whose expenses varied between 15.000-30.000 were those
whose earnings varied from 50.000 to100.000.This is an average of 30% of their monthly earnings.

The set of concerns study exposed that to be able to buy their air time, members sometimes compromise other factors
for that. All of the 12 towns are nearby the cell cellphone system coverage; usually Zain (or Celtel) and Vodacom.
Consequently, the villagers usually did not need to travel far to get system reception. However, many of the members
revealed that they often move 3-7 miles to be able to renew battery energy of their mobile phones. For example,
members from Lungemba town explained that cell cellphone users/owners move for battery energy renew to Mafinga
town, which is 7 miles away. Moreover, many of them revealed that they must sometimes stay there for 3 hours
waiting for their battery energy to be fully energized. The members maintained to renew battery energy 2 to 3 times
per week, depending on type and use of cell cellphone.

3.5: Behaviour towards cell cellphone ownership/usage

The respondents open-ended feedback exposed that the development, increased budget, and increasing protection of
mobile phones solutions are rapidly improving the importance of mobile phones as a means of two-way synchronous
interaction. The members expected that support providers costs models should provide budget and option to help
create it possible for even individuals from lowest-income categories to look at mobile phones. They also highlighted
that, if possible, the issues of electric energy should be put into first consideration before increasing cell cellphone
system protection.
In inclusion, we requested the members to amount their agreement with a variety of claims. The range was a fourpoint Likert range with a no opinion option. We existing here outcomes from four claims: First of all, that having
mobile phones decrease earnings poverty; secondly, that the advantages of mobile phones rationalize their costs;
thirdly, that using mobile phones decreases other essential activities; and fourthly, that the cost of mobile phones get
individuals to sometimes give up other considerations in their life.
Having mobile phones decrease earnings poverty
As many as 79.5% of the members did not agree or strongly did not agree with the declaration having mobile phones
decrease earnings poverty (see Figure 1).

4. Discussion
The study adds the proof that age number of 18-25 and 26-35 are the categories that most own/use mobile phones in
Tanzanian rural. Remarkably, the study has exposed that greater part own/use mobile phones for mainly keeping
connections than being used for financial or company reasons. According to the results, the resources of money for
purchasing mobile phones are mainly from business/Agribusiness (62%). This leads to forgoing other considerations
which could decrease earnings poverty. However, the operating expenses of those mobile phones is a pressure to the
users/owners as it shows that, these expenses consume more than 30% of their monthly earnings.
The results exposed that most ECOO E04 cell cellphone users/owners (97.25%) of members stay far from primary
facilities such as power. They then ought simply to move lengthy ranges seeking for solutions of their mobile phones.
Consequently, most of the economical or company actions are delayed so as to protect those solutions. It can be
recommended that cell cellphone is very essential in performing financial and company actions that leads to towards
development. But for areas in rural Tanzania who reside in places where there inadequate facilities owning/using cell
cellphone improves earnings poverty.
As exposed from study, most mobile phones owners/users are those whose professions are peasants, (71%) followed by
paid (15%) and learners (10%). Except for paid, peasants and learners are regarded as low earnings earners,

consuming more than 30% of their monthly earnings for keeping mobile phones and sometimes forgoing other
considerations demonstrate improving earnings poverty.
5. Effects and direction for further research
Although our outcome is consistent with de Silva & Zainudeen (2007) in Sri-Lanka who discovered that accessibility
or use of mobile phones does not actually improve earnings or cost preserving of especially the end of the inadequate,
there seems to be important implications for practice and concept. The use or accessibility mobile phones or
telecommunication in common is essential for everybody. But what may not be actually essential is that does every
individual need to own a mobile phone? According to our results, this indicates that not everybody would need his/her
own cellphone. What is essential here may not be the possession of the cellphone but rather accessibility it. For some
it could be cheaper to use the cellphone kiosk, which are distribute almost everywhere when it is necessary to create a
contact than purchasing own cellphone. Having a cell cellphone among the end inadequate comprises, to a larger level
creating needless calls and in many cases giving rise to beeping.
Further research is still required for comparison reasons between the rural individuals and their city alternatives. Also,
it is essential analyze about the connection between mobile phones and details symmetries among smallholder farm
owners. This will determine the level to which mobile phones decrease the details asymmetry in understanding value
stores of the produce among smallholder farm owners in rural places.
6. Acknowledgements
The writers would like to recognize the tech support team and support of Matti Tedre and Bukaza Chachage. They also
would like to thank Village Executive Authorities from all 12 towns for their help in details selection processes.