Signs of the economic divide
Signs of the economic divide
Signs of the economic divide: cell phone usageand availability among low-income population.
One of the main reasons for cell phone growth in Brazil, as well as in other countries in Latin America, is the poor landline infrastructure. The same is true for many regions in Africa, where mobile phone phones could penetrate where fixed phone cables could not reach (The Economist, 2005). Recent data from the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) shows that there was almost no growth in fixed telephones during 2004 (Teleco, 2006a). While there were almost 20 million new cell phones, the number of newly installed landlines was roughly 400,000. In September 2003 Anatel announced that the number of cell phones surpassed the number of fixed landlines (Anatel, 2003).
According to journalist Andrés Velázquez (2002), “the deficient infrastructure and the difficulties imposed by geography make the China cell phone the only option in many regions [of Latin America]”. In Brazil, until approximately 1999, fixed phones were scarce and used to take years to be installed. In 1998, the Brazilian Telecommunications Agency (Telebrás) was privatized, increasing the number of fixed phones and decreasing the installation waiting time and price. Nowadays, one has to wait approximately 10 days and pay an installation fee of roughly 100 reais9 (45 USD) to have a fixed phone installed. However, maintaining a landline is still expensive for a large amount of the population. Subsequently, 40% of the population that earns up to 10 minimum salaries a month (1620 USD) do not have telephones at all (Teleco, 2005d). Moreover, among the population that earns up to one minimum salary10 a month (162 USD), that is, 50% of the country’s population, only 18.8% have a fixed China mobile phone at home.