Communications of the ACM
Poor Neighborhoods, Poor Mobile Signal
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A new study shows a mobile divide between individuals and households in urban or affluent areas and those in rural or lower-income areas. "Crowdsourcing Mobile Coverage," published in the journal Telecommunication Policy, maps the location and density of regular wireless basestations and femto-cells — small wireless antennas used in areas of poor mobile coverage. It finds that low-income regions receive almost 15 percent less network coverage compared to their affluent counterparts. Wealthier households in poorly covered areas compensate by buying femto-cells, while their poorer neighbors do not.
The study is authored by Aija Leiponen, associate professor at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, and Pantelis Koutroumpis, research fellow at the Imperial College Business School.
"Low income regions are found to receive almost 15 percent less coverage compared to their affluent counterparts and have two fewer telecom basestations installed for equal distributions of subscribers," Leiponen says. "Basestations tend to be at least three times further from lower-income subscribers.
"Within poorly-covered areas, wealthier households are able to compensate by investing in femto-cells but poorer households are often excluded from communication networks and the Internet," Leiponen says.
"Our results reinforce the belief that there is a mobile divide between individuals and households in urban or affluent areas and those in rural or lower-income areas. Insufficient mobile coverage may further contribute to the decline or slower development of these areas," she says.
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