Developing Services for Rural India

Abstract

While most developing countries lag behind developed countries in terms of ICT usage the level of penetration of mobile telephony in some of the developing countries it is at par with that of developed countries (Rashid, 2009; Heeks, 2008). Mobile telephony is an attractive solution for the communication needs of the developing countries because of its ability to transcend barriers posed by geography and terrain, lower installation cost and operating costs (Dholakia). Furthermore, mobile phones have been successful in reaching out to a large section of illiterate population, hitherto untouched by legacy communication technology (Townsend, 2000). As such, mobile telephony presents itself as a potential solution for reducing the digital divide by enabling two-way communication for a vast number of marginalized communities in the world (Sinha, 2005).