| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,770,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥870,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
Fiscal Year 2011: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2010: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
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| Research Abstract |
My study is grounded in serial observations of mobile phone use among Turkana villagers from the summer of 2006 to the summer of 2012. I conducted observations and interviews in Lodwar, Kalakol, and Locheri-edome during 2 weeks each year. Lodwar and Kakuma are connected by a 150-km unmaintained road. Approximately 20 villagers served as informants each year.
I stayed in the home of a villager in Locheri-edome, near Kakuma, while I collected data about mobile phone usage. I aimed to collect detailed information about where, when, and to whom mobile phone owners communicated using this medium. I asked informants about the number of contacts registered in their phone books, the nature of their relationships with mobile phone owners registered as contacts, and the types of situations in which they use mobile phones.
Kenyan mobile phone services originally depended on primary social bonds. In most other countries where mobile phone use has thoroughly penetrated everyday life, each individual
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normally has his or her own SIM number and device and rarely answers another person’s mobile phone when it rings in the owner’s absence. In contrast, individuals often answer others’ mobile phones in Kenya. Most users subscribe to prepaid, rather than postpaid, services and purchase SIM cards before they incur phone usage fees. SIM cards are readily exchanged in this system, and Kenyans sometimes lend and borrow not only devices, but also SIM numbers. These practices are related to the mobile phone services and social system in Kenya.
Kenyan mobile phone services have also been described as communication media used to bond social capital. Indeed, carriers have provided airtime sharing services, such as Me2U and Sambaza, for a long time. Users can send airtime to other devices used by family members, friends, or anyone in need, providing mutual aid without directly using money. Carriers also provide Flash Back service, which enables a user to send the message “Please call me. Thank you.” for no charge. These services have driven mobile phone use among low income Kenyans.
Safaricom began providing the mobile money transfer service M-PESA in 2007. This service is one of the only payment systems in the world based on mobile phone communications. It allows a mobile phone user to send money to anyone, even if the recipient does not have a mobile phone. M-PESA thus promotes mutual aid and business activity among low income Kenyans. Before its advent, sending money was expensive and/or risky in Kenya because most people do not have bank accounts and are thus required to pay high fees to receive money at post offices or to arrange for drivers or middlemen to assist in the transfer. The personal delivery of money, usually by minibus (matatu; frequently used for business travel), also runs the risk of losing the money and being injured by pickpockets or thieves. M-PESA thus facilitates the safe transfer of money. The reduction in the transfer fee to one-tenth that charged by post offices has led to the dramatic spread of M-PESA use throughout Kenya.
The explosive expansion of mobile phone use is also related to the development of the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) business protocol. Mobile phone providers responded to the introduction of the BoP by adopting this strategy to create business competition. For example, Safaricom has generated a large profit by acquiring M-PESA users (~15 million in total), each of whom pays about US$1.11 (1.5% average per capita income) monthly. Providers have created services on the basis of social characteristics; like other media, the mobile medium is embedded in everyday life, business activities, social practices, and social divisions. Less
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