Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696588680107.pdf (Vanuatu)
NET EFFECTS Social and economic impacts of telecommunications and internet in Vanuatu RESEARCH FINDINGS REPORT 2011–2012 NET EFFECTS Social and economic impacts of telecommunications and internet in Vanuatu RESEARCH FINDINGS REPORT 2011–2012 Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy PMB 9034 Port Vila, VANUATU Tel: +678 29842 Email: pipp@paciﬁ cpolicy.org www.paciﬁ cpolicy.org The Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy (PIPP) is an independent, non-partisan and not-for-proﬁ t think tank and exists to stimulate and support policy debate in Paciﬁ c island countries.
USP Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data O’Connor, Seini Net effects: the social and economic impacts of telecommunications and internet in Vanuatu 2011 / Seini O’Connor, Anna Naemon and Bimbika Sijapati-Basnett ; editors, Nikunj Soni, Derek Brien, Tess Newton Cain.

— [Port Vila, Vanuatu]: Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy, 2012.

110 p. ; 30 cm.

ISBN 978-982-527-003-4 1.

Telecommunication — Social aspects — Vanuatu.

2.

Telecommunication — Economic aspects — Vanuatu.

3.
3.

Internet — Social aspects — Vanuatu.

4.

Internet — Economics aspects — Vanuatu.

I.

Title.

II.

Naemon, Anna.

II.

Sijapati-Basnett, Bimbika.

HE 8625.O36 2012 384.1099595 This research was carried out with funding from the Australian Agency for International Development through the Governance for Growth Program.
The study team comprised: Research Manager Anna Naemon Primary Analyst and Author Seini O’Connor Primary Research Assistants Frida Bani and Ben Kaurua Editors Nikunj Soni, Derek Brien, Tess Newton Cain The many additional contributors to this study are listed in the Acknowledgements section of this report.

Suggested academic citation for this report Seini O’Connor, Anna Naemon and Bimbika Sijapati-Basnett.
Net Effects: Social and Economic Impacts of Telecommunications and Internet In Vanuatu: Research Findings Report 2011.

Port Vila, Vanuatu: Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy.

Published by the Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy PMB 9034, Port Vila, VANUATU Tel: +678 29842 Email: pipp@paciﬁ cpolicy.org www.paciﬁ cpolicy.org © Copyright 2012 Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Cover image by Graham Crumb — imagicity.com Contents Acknowledgements Executive summary Introduction 1.
Literature review Remoteness matters—but ICTs can help bridge the gaps ICT use has been slow to grow in the Pacifi c—but things are changing Work is being done to make mobiles even more useful Internet use still lags behind A ‘systems approach’ may help bridge the digital divide in internet access Vanuatu is taking steps to increase ICT access Evidence of the benefi ts of increased ICT access is still being assessed 2.
Methodology Conceptual framework and research design Study locations Study participants Study materials Study procedure Analytical approach 3.

Household economics Support and dependents within the household Household income Support from outside the household 4.

Communication preferences Communication within community groups Differences between communication channels Communication tools 5.

Complementary infrastructure Means of transport Roads Shipping Electricity 6.
Telephones Phone access and ownership Phone uses Phone battery charging Phone expenditure Phone communication topics Phone impacts A special subgroup: respondents without mobile phones [ 3 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 4 ] 7.
Internet use Exposure to the internet Access to the internet Costs of internet use Importance of the internet Barriers to using the internet Perceived impacts of the internet 8.
Developments over time Survey areas covered across all three years Perceptions of community life becoming easier over time Increases in phone ownership and importance Consistently high importance of phones as means of communication Perceived benefi ts of telecommunications Appendix: Summary of small-medium business interviews 80 80 82 83 84 85 87 89 89 90 91 93 96 99 NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 5 ] Acknowledgements The efforts and contributions of more than a thousand people produced this report.
Our special thanks go to the 1,197 household survey participants, and community members who took part in the qualitative interviews in the following 16 locations across Vanuatu: Blacksands and Freshwota (Efate), Chapuis East and Port Olry (Santo), Port Narvin and Unpongkor (Erromango), Ngala and Lamen Bay (Epi), Levetlis and Atangurua/Antabulu (Pentecost), Sola and Vetumboso (Vanua Lava), Lenakel and Lamnatu-Middle Bush (Tanna) and Analghowhat and Umej (Aneityum).
We also greatly appreciate the support provided to this research project by the Ministry for Infrastructure and Utilities (MIPU), AusAID Governance for Growth (GFG), Vanuatu Telecommunication Regulator’s Offi ce and Vanuatu National Statistics Offi ce (VNSO).

The following people directly contributed to the research and report preparation.
Peer review Peter Inglesby Bimbika Sijapati-Basnett Dan McGarry Field work planning assistance Alan Horne (Vanuatu Telecommunication Regulator) Lizzie Taure (Telecommunication Regulator’s Offi ce) Kevin Tari (VNSO) Benuel Lenge (VNSO) Peter Koime (VNSO-Torba Province) Vania Manugai (VNSO-Luganville) Christopher Mackenzie (Assistant General Secretary, Torba Province) David Torvurvur (Acting Secretary General, Tafea Province) Ellen Bitalau (Travel and Administrative) Jennifer Kalpokas Doan (Project Monitoring) Field Data collection support Richard Shing (Field Research Supervisor) Arua Nafuki (Field Research Supervisor) Linda Kenni (Qualitative Field Research Supervisor) Mary Sassia (Field Assistant, Tafea Province) Chief Roy (Field Assistant, Torba Province) Leonie Boe (Field Assistant, Santo) Enumerators Erica Boe (Santo) Norah Dick (Santo) Billy Was (Santo) Oliver Nev (Santo) David Tevi (Santo) Joel Ham (Santo) Solomon Wai (Santo) Patu Dick (Santo) Bob Din (Santo and Vanua Lava) Peter Koime (Vanua Lava) NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 6 ] Sonia Runua (Erromango) Matilda Narai (Erromango) Annalyn Melkum (Erromango) Jacob Haris (Tanna) Christopher Kiel (Tanna) Jeffrey Nalawas (Tanna) Jason Natoh (Tanna) Sam Tamuru (Tanna) Hilton Lulu (Tanna) Noclam Charley (Tanna) Lavinia Isaac (Tanna) Marie Willie (Tanna) Lulu Jean Boseo (Tanna) Antoine Dakere (Aneityum) Kaiyapi Henry (Aneityum) Hhiwaya Anon (Aneityum) Selwyan Daniel (Aneityum) Harriet Benjamin (Aneityum) Silas Bulu (Vanua Lava) Ezekiel Manar (Vanua Lava) Denzley Bet (Vanua Lava) Yuone MacKennzie (Vanua Lava) Maigun Wotlemaro (Vanua Lava) Dunsten Huri (Pentecost) Leo Hinge (Pentecost) Tonny Liu (Pentecost) Dieno Sao (Pentecost) Betty Hango (Pentecost) Rodley (Epi) Naunga Phillip (Epi) John Paraliyu (Epi) Graham Jack (Epi) John Cliff (Epi) Irene John (Epi) Luie Noyae (Erromango) Daniel Upakai (Erromango) Joe Rugu (Erromango) Data entry operators Jack Tom (Efate) Riwatu Riwai (Efate) Helen Daniel (Efate) Viran Vira (Efate) Linda Kenni (Efate) NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Executive summary This report presents fi ndings in a series of studies on from the third telecommunications use, benefi ts, and constraints in Vanuatu.
This series of studies—undertaken by the Pacifi c Institute of Public Policy in 2008, 2009, and 2011—has helped illuminate the economic and social impacts of telecommunications market liberalisation.

For those living in Vanuatu, many of these impacts are clear: prior to 2008, people in Vanuatu had limited access to phones, but now mobiles are a common household item.
Since 2008, both the incumbent, Telecom Vanuatu Ltd (TVL) and the new provider, Digicel, have expanded services across the country, including to remote islands in the north and south.

Modes of communication are changing, new business ventures are emerging, and mobile phones are becoming a part of everyday life.

The Pacifi c Institute of Public Policy has been mapping these changes.
The 2011 study, which this report focuses on, adds to fi ndings from the 2008 and 2009 reports not only by exploring the ongoing impacts of increasing telephone access, but also by investigating the constraints imposed by complementary infrastructure, and patterns of internet uptake.

The study was extensive, including over one thousand face-to-face household surveys, and nearly one hundred in-depth focus groups and semi-structured interviews with community representatives and small businesses.
Data was collected in 13 rural and three urban research sites across eight islands of Vanuatu between March and June 2011.

Phones are prevalent throughout Vanuatu… Perhaps one of the most prominent and persistent themes emerging from the study results is that phones—in particular, mobile phones—have become a primary mode of communication across the country.
The overwhelming majority of households had access to a mobile phone; four out of fi ve survey respondents reported personally owning a mobile phone; and at the household level mobile phones appeared to be the most commonly owned electrical appliance.

From 2008 to 2011, increasing numbers of households in both rural and urban areas obtained access to multiple (three or more) mobile phones.
…but in rural areas, their use is more limited Despite these clear countrywide patterns, there were some interesting differences between urban and rural areas.

For instance, although mobile phone penetration in rural areas is high, rural respondents reported using their phones less frequently than urban respondents.
This may refl ect limited service coverage, and perceived cost: more focus groups in rural areas expressed concern about the diffi culty of obtaining a reliable service signal, and discussed the expense of using mobile phones.

Although a number of respondents reported using both Digicel and TVL services in an attempt to maximise cost savings and coverage reliability, in several areas consumers still only have one choice of provider.
[ 7 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 8 ] …which may be partly attributable to poor transportation and electricity services In addition to coverage concerns, the usefulness of phones may also be limited by defi ciencies in parallel infrastructure.
Results from both the household survey and focus groups indicated that poor wharf services were a major inconvenience and source of ineffi ciency, limiting the potential gains made through improved communication by phone.

In addition, few rural areas had grid-supplied electricity, and thus had to rely on solar cells, batteries, and diesel generators, which can be costly to set up and operate.
In such areas, fewer residents were able to charge their mobile phone batteries at home, and ownership of other electrical appliances such as televisions and computers was very limited.

The benefi ts of phone use are still widely felt… Nevertheless, as with previous years, respondents in 2011 reported a wide range of perceived benefi ts of increased access to mobile phones, including multiple commercial and fi nancial benefi ts, connecting with social networks, and accessing key services and information.
The greatest positive impacts from phones appeared to be in enabling more frequent contact with family and friends and increasing the speed of communication.

Access to health care services and to increased social support was also seen to have improved somewhat as a result of increased access to phones, and, since 2008, increasing numbers of respondents have noted benefi ts in gaining access to specialised services.
In contrast, more than a quarter of respondents felt that phones had not helped them at all in terms of improving communication with government departments.

…and are likely still to be fully realised in rural areas Again, though, there were some interesting urban-rural differences in the results.
Phones appear to have become more integrated in urban communities: nearly three quarters of urban respondents said they could not continue their current economic activities, or could only continue with diffi culty, if they could no longer use mobile phones.

In contrast, fewer rural respondents were currently so reliant on their phones, in several cases reporting that the loss of phone contact would make no difference to them.
However, focus groups revealed that rural respondents were more likely than urban respondents to focus on improving telephone services as a community priority.

This suggests that because mobile phone use is more recent and still constrained in rural areas, its benefi ts have yet to be fully realised (but people see its potential).
Some other forms of communication are diminishing in importance… NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy The rise of mobile phones appears to have been accompanied by the decline of other modes of communication.
Use of fi xed line phones was low across the country, and the availability of public phones in rural areas appears to have been declining, likely due to the costs of maintenance and the inconvenience of travel for rural communities.

Looking back across the 2008, 2009 and 2011 studies, the use of letters and communication via local leaders has been steadily decreasing, as has the perceived importance of other such traditional communication forms.
…but direct face-to-face contact is still valued, and some social concerns about phones persist Nevertheless, phones have not been a direct substitute for face-to-face interaction, which remained a preferred channel for many communication purposes.

Furthermore, respondents expressed several concerns about the negative impacts of mobile phone use, particularly related to a breakdown in social relations and divergence from traditional behavioural norms.
This suggests that face-to-face communication will remain important within communities, and that the greatest benefi ts of phones arise when they are used in constructive ways to improve connectivity with distant correspondents, rather than to break down close social connections.

Another concern that some respondents raised is that phones are costly.
However, there was no evidence that people were substituting expenditure on essential items for expenditure on phones, and most respondents limited the amount they spent on phones to no more than 1,000vt per month—approximately 2% of the mean monthly income across respondents.

Internet use is still limited In stark contrast to the data on phones, the majority of survey respondents did not have internet access—refl ecting the absence of services in most areas.
Those who did tended to use internet cafés or access the internet at their workplaces, and to a lesser extent through mobile phones and on home computers.

Respondents perceived the internet to be important, especially for news and information, but did not view it as essential.

Perceived cost, limited network access, and lack of experience with the technology appeared to be key barriers to increased usage.

Overall, these results suggest that mobile phone use is widespread throughout Vanuatu.
Although people are enjoying greater connectivity, there are still some constraints on achieving further economic and social benefi ts.
[ 9 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 10 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Introduction A survey conducted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 20091 indicated there were approximately 4.1 billion mobile phone users across the world—an increase from one billion in 2002.
In addition, close to a quarter of the world’s 6.7 billion people were using the internet.

The survey ﬁ ndings clearly showed that the signiﬁ cant growth in information communication technologies is rapidly changing societies, particularly societies in developing countries where ineffective communication infrastructures are a hindrance to economic growth.

However, the cost of mobile and internet services in developing countries appears to be high as a share of average incomes.
The Pacifi c Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) has undertaken a series of studies (in 2008, 2009 and 2011) to investigate whether these global patterns of communication proliferation, benefi ts, and constraints are representative of the experience in Vanuatu.

Vanuatu provides a particularly interesting case study, as the country had very limited telecommunications access prior to market liberalisation in 2008.
Since then, both the incumbent, Telecom Vanuatu Ltd (TVL), and a new provider, Digicel, have expanded services across the country.

Over this period, PiPP’s studies have traced the links between access to mobile phones and economic productivity and social livelihoods.

The 2011 study, which this report focuses on, adds to the 2008 and 2009 fi ndings not only by exploring the ongoing impacts of telephone access, but also by investigating complementary infrastructure constraints and internet uptake.
Our 2011 study on communication technology in Vanuatu used mixed methods, comprising 1,197 face-face household surveys, 62 adult focus group discussions, and 31 small–medium business semi-structured interviews.

Data was collected in 16 rural and urban research sites across eight islands of Vanuatu between March and June 2011.

In this report, we provide a comprehensive discussion of the household survey results, supplemented with key insights from the qualitative investigations.
We also draw comparisons between fi ndings from the 2008, 2009, and 2011 surveys, highlighting how mobile telephony continues to benefi t people throughout Vanuatu.

We have broken the remainder of this report into eight sections.

We begin with a discussion of the literature on mobile phone communication and internet access (Section 1), to place our fi ndings from Vanuatu in a global context.
Next, we describe our methodological approach in detail (Section 2), explaining how we gathered and analysed the study data.

The major body of the report then presents results broken down by general theme.

First we discuss household economics (Section 3), including how much respondents earned 1 ITU (2009).

Measuring the Information Society – The ICT Development Index.

www.itu.int.

Also: Tryhorn, C. (2009).

‘Nice talking to you… mobile phone use passes milestone’.

The Guardian, Monday 2 March.


[ 11 ] from different sources, and their expenditure.

We then look at communication preferences (Section 4), identifying how telephones compare with other forms of communication.

Next, we discuss complementary infrastructure (Section 5), focussing on how important electricity and transportation are for people throughout the country, and how constraints in this infrastructure can limit the benefi ts of telecommunications.
Our largest section then discusses telephones (Section 6)—how people use them, how much people spend on them, and how benefi cial people perceive them to be.

Following this, we discuss similar topics for the internet (Section 7), presenting results from questions asked for the fi rst time.

The fi nal section presents results from cross-time comparisons (Section 8), looking at what has changed and what has stayed constant over the 2008, 2009, and 2011 surveys.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 12 ] 1.

Literature review Remoteness matters—but ICTs can help bridge the gaps Economic geography poses enormous development challenges for most Pacifi c island countries.2 Small size prevents these countries from taking advantage of economies of scale and specialisation.
Remoteness from economic centres hinders them from participating in production networks that have benefi tted other developing countries.
Furthermore, their sea-locked status restricts these countries from sharing in and benefi tting from the fl ow of goods, capital, people and ideas with other countries.3 Although many of the factors that contribute to size and remoteness are beyond the control of policy makers in Pacifi c island countries, the widespread adoption of information communication technologies (ICTs) may help to lower the inherent disadvantages posed by economic geography.
ICTs include a range of modalities that facilitate communication, processing and transmission of information by electronic means.
Such technologies encompass both traditional ones such as conventional radio, landline telephones, fax machines, newspapers, TV and libraries, and new ones such as mobile phones, computers and the internet.4 ICTs have the potential for lowering transaction costs among the fragmented population of the Pacifi c islands, reducing economic distance to the nearest market, and alleviating divisions that currently hinder integration at global, regional and local levels.5 ICTs can also play a catalytic role towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by empowering people and promoting grassroots development to take place, enabling people to learn about their world and take action to fi nd answers to overcome their own challenges.
For instance, ICTs can help meet hospital and school-related connectivity targets in the MDGs and increase awareness on how to improve the environment and work towards overcoming barriers to gender equality.6 ICT use has been slow to grow in the Paciﬁ c—but things are changing Pacifi c island countries have been relatively slow to respond to and benefi t from the global revolution in ICTs.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Information Economy Report 2009 notes that between 2003 and 2009, there were over four billion mobile telephony subscribers in the world.

The most dynamic countries in terms of increased mobile telecommunication NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 2 The World Development Report 2009 defi nes economic geography as ‘density’, ‘divergence’ and ‘division’.
(see: World Bank (2009).

World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography.

Washington DC: World Bank.)

3 Horscroft, V. (2010).

‘The Role of Information and Communications Technology in Mitigating the Challenges of Economic Geography in the Pacifi c Islands’.

An Eye on East Asia and Paciﬁ c. Washington DC: World Bank.

4 Fourie, L. (2008) Enhancing the Livelihoods of the Rural Poor through ICT: A South Africa Country Report.

Working Paper No.13, InfoDev.

5 Horscroft, V. (2010).

ibid.


6 ITU (2010).

Report on the World Summit on Information Society Stocktaking 2010: Tracking Progress.

Geneva: International Telecommunications Union.


[ 13 ] rates were those outside of the ‘developed’ world; now, approximately every second person in the ‘developing’ world owns or has access to a mobile phone.7 However, until recently, the spread of ICTs in developing countries in the Pacifi c has been limited by high capital and operating costs, small size of markets, and government-supported monopolies with little incentive to reduce prices and expand coverage.

Things are beginning to change.


The recent dramatic fall in unit costs of mobile telephony infrastructure has not only made mobile phones more accessible and affordable, but also raised questions about the policy rationale for monopolies.
Many Pacifi c island countries have privatised or are in the process of privatising, liberalising and introducing competition in the telecommunications sector, with the aim of making services more accessible and affordable.8 There are now dramatic differences in access to mobile phones and teledensity between those Pacifi c island countries that have liberalised and privatised the sector and those that have yet to do so, as shown in Table 1 and Figure 1 below.
This is because, as shown in many developing countries, when reforms in the telecommunications sector lead to more accessible and affordable services, even those people at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ in a socioeconomic sense are willing to spend large fractions of disposable income on mobile phone use, and to experiment with cheap ways of communicating.9 10 Table 1 Teledensity in Paciﬁ c island countries11 Country Pop.

GNIp/c (USD) Fiji 849,000 Kiribati 98,000 Marshall Is.
61,000 FSM 111,000 Palau 20,000 PNG 6,732,000 Samoa 179,000 Solomon Is.
523,000 Timor-Leste 1,134,000 Tonga 104,000 Tuvalu 12,000 Vanuatu 240,000 3,950 1,890 3,060 2,220 8,940 1,180 2,840 910 2,460 3,260 – 2,620 Fixed Lines (% of inhabitants) Mobile Subscriptions (% of inhabitants) Internet Users (% of inhabitants) <0.5 <0.5 2.2 – 3.5 13.5 2.0 3.6 15.6 – 1.9 5.0 1.9 0.2 8.1 9.1 7.1 7 UNCTAD (2009).
The Information Economy Report 2009: Trends and Outlook in Turbulent Times.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, New York and Geneva.

8 Horscroft, V. (2010).

ibid.

9 Zainudeen, A. et al.

(2008) Telecom Use in a Shoestring: strategic use of telecom services by the ﬁ nancially constrained in South Asia.

LIRNEasia.
LIRNEasia.

http://lirneasia.net/projects/2004-05/strategies-of-the-poor-telephone- usage/ 10 Spence, R. and M. Smith (2009) Information Communication Technology, Human Development Report and Poverty Reduction.

Background Paper for the Harvard Forum, IDRC.

11 Source: Horscroft, V. (2010) ‘The Role of Information and Communications Technology in Mitigating the Challenges of Economic Geography in the Pacifi c Islands’.

An Eye on East Asia and Paciﬁ c, World Bank.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 14 ] Figure 1 Mobile subscriptions in Paciﬁ c island countries12 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2004 2007 2009 Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islands FSM Palau PNG Samoa Solomon Islands Timor-leste Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu As Table 1 and Figure 1 above illustrate, since the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in Vanuatu and the entry of Digicel, mobile subscription rates increased dramatically from 4.8% of total inhabitants in 2004 to 52.7% in 2009.
Data from the telecommunications regulator for 2010 indicate that subscription rates are now as high as 71%.13 Fierce competition between Digicel and TVL, the two service providers, has meant that access to telecommunication services has expanded rapidly and the costs of using them have signifi cantly decreased.

Within six months of starting operations, Digicel had covered 75% of the population, increasing to 85% within 18 months.
TVL has also been expanding its coverage, including in areas that are currently not covered by Digicel such as in the remote island of Motalava in January 2010; North East Malakula, Gaua and Maewo in May 2010;14 and north and east Pentecost in August 2010.15 Vanuatu’s independent telecommunications regulator has confi rmed that approximately 90% of the population now have access to mobile telecommunications.
The Pacifi c Institute of Public Policy’s 2009 study on the social and economic impact of telecommunications in Vanuatu found that the majority of respondents who participated in the household survey not only had access to mobile phones, but actually have exclusive use of them.

This suggests that more than half of the population of the country owns mobile telephones—a higher proportion than that found in other developing countries.
For instance, cross-country research carried out in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Thailand indicates that inequality in access to mobile telephony has reduced considerably in more liberalised, competitive markets.

Even cash-strapped users fi nd innovative ways of accessing telecommunications without spending considerable amounts to do so.
However, there are still disparities in these countries between those who use telecom devices and those who actually own them.16 Work is being done to make mobiles even more useful The evidence of high mobile uptake in Vanuatu is promising, but there are still constraints on the usefulness and true accessibility of this technology.
Recognising this, Digicel and TVL have taken some measures, albeit limited, to NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 12 Source: Horscroft, V. (2010) ibid.

13 Telecommunication and Radiocommunication Regulator.

(2010) Annual Report 2010.

Port Vila, Vanuatu.


http://www.trr.vu 14 ‘TVL Connects Gaua with Smile’, Vanuatu Daily Post, May 17, 2010. http://www.dailypost.vu 15 ‘TVL Coverage Expanding in Pentecost’, Vanuatu Daily Post.

http://www.dailypost.vu 16 De Silva, H. & Zainudeen, A.

(2007).

Poverty Reduction through Telecom Access at the Bottom of the Pyramid.

Paper prepared for Centre for Poverty Analysis Annual Symposium on Poverty Research in Sri Lanka.
http://www.lirneasia.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/lirneasia_teleuse_cepa_-mar07_v30.pdf [ 15 ] address the broader constraints that users face in accessing mobile telephony at their convenience.
For instance, TVL is collaborating with ACTIV (an NGO specialising in fair trade) and AusAID’s ‘Lighting Vanuatu’ project to sell affordable solar lamps and phone chargers to rural users without access to electricity.17 In addition, the telecommunication service providers, donors, and banks in Vanuatu are working alongside one another to introduce ‘branchless banking’ in rural areas.
Vanuatu is keen to draw on lessons from other countries that are providing services such as mobile payment platforms, originating loans, and offering a range of other banking products.

As shown in Figure 2 below, evidence from other countries suggests mobile or branchless banking can reach large numbers of previously unbanked customers relatively quickly.

On average, branchless banking is 50% cheaper if customers use it as a form of savings and bill payment.
Service providers in mature markets such as Kenya and Brazil are linking new products such as loans and insurance to basic electronic wallets or prepaid cards.18 Figure 2 Percentage of branchless banking customers who had not previously used a bank19 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Weighted avg 37% Banco Postal (Brazil) WING (Cambodia) FINO (India) M-PESA (Kenya) GCash (Philippines) Smart Money (Phil) WIZZIT (S. Africa) M-PESA (Tanzania) Internet use still lags behind In comparison to progress made in the uptake of mobile telephony, use of the internet remains limited.
As Table 1 shows, during the same period that Vanuatu experienced an explosion of mobile telephone subscribers, internet use increased from a very low base (from 3.5% of total inhabitants in 2004 to 7.1% in 2009), but usage is still low.20 In many ways, the slow rate of internet uptake in Vanuatu is symptomatic of a global digital divide between rich and poor—which is manifest not only within countries, but also between them.
The UNCTAD’s Information Economy 2009 report points out that there were an estimated 1.4 billion internet users in 2009.21 New users grew fi ve times faster in developing countries than they did in the developed world.

Nevertheless, while half the population in the developed world is now online, the corresponding proportions for developing and transition 17 ‘TVL Makes Communication Accessible’, Vanuatu Daily Post.

http://www.dailypost.vu 18 McKay, C. and M. Pikens (2010).
Branchless Banking in 2010: Who’s Served?

At What Price?

What’s Next?

Focus Note No.

66, CGCAP.

19 Source: McKay, C. and M. Pikens (2010) ibid.

20 See also: ‘85% Mobile Coverage Confi rmed’, Vanuatu Daily Post, December 8, 2009.

21 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2009).

Information Economy Report: Trends and Outlook in Turbulent Times.
http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/ier2009_en.pdf NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 16 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU economies are only 15-16%.
Out of an estimated 400 million fi xed broadband subscribers in the world at the end of 2008, average penetration rates were eight times higher in developed countries than their counterparts in developing and transition economies.

Broadband prices are the highest in low-income countries.

Many such countries are now considering wireless technologies to overcome the broadband access gap.
A ‘systems approach’ may help bridge the digital divide in internet access Research in other developing countries suggests that there are more hurdles to bridging the ‘digital divide’ in internet use than there is in mobile telephony.
Drawing on data from 26 developing and developed countries from 1995 to 2005, researchers from the Center for Research on Information Technology have found that diffusion of the internet and of personal computers (PCs) are complementary in nature; thus, one of the main reasons for the slow pace of internet uptake in developing countries is lack of access to PCs.22 Accordingly, these researchers suggest that it is important for developing countries to adopt a ‘systems’ approach rather than promote access to the internet and PCs in isolation.
Low-cost systems that combine provision of hardware with web access and user-friendly applications are the way forward.

In addition, UNCTAD recommends implementing policies and regulations to facilitate broadband roll out, including tax and fi nancial incentives, market liberalisation, stipulation of universal access, and market stimulation.

UNCTAD also suggests that public internet access points or telecentres can be particularly effective in enhancing broadband access.
For instance, in a study carried out on patterns of use and perceptions towards ICTs in South Africa, respondents cited the lack of capacity, infrastructure, and education as the most important reasons for not using the internet and email on a regular basis.23 To try to overcome these barriers, the government of South Africa, in partnership with donors, has now invested in ‘multi-purpose community centres’ (MPCCs) to train and encourage citizens to use ICTs.
Some of the major services offered by MPCCs include telephones (mobile or public), computer training, typing, referrals, and internet access.

In addition, ‘Public Information Centres’ (PICs) have been set up to make e-governance and e-commerce more accessible to citizens.

Over 700 PICs have been installed in post offi ces throughout the country with infrastructure and online facilities.
PICs allow individuals and communities from disadvantaged backgrounds to more easily access information about the government, schools, agriculture, and markets.

The post offi ces install, support, and maintain the machines.

The government, in turn, appoints ICT specialists to assist the post offi ces that have installed PICs.
Vanuatu is taking steps to increase ICT access While this type of service innovation has yet to be experimented with in Vanuatu, and would currently be diffi cult to implement in a context of limited electricity supplies (especially in remote rural areas), the Vanuatu government has already shown strong support for increasing access to ICTs.
For instance, under the 22 Dewan, S., Ganley, D. & Kraemer, K (2009) ‘Complementarities in the Diffusion of Personal Computers and the Internet: Implications for the Global Digital Divide’.

Information Systems Research, pp.1-17.

23 Fourie, L. (2008) Enhancing the Livelihoods of the Rural Poor through ICT: A South Africa Country Report.

Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Working Paper No.13, InfoDev.

Refer to Annex 28 and 29 on research fi ndings.


[ 17 ] provisions of the Telecommunications and Radiocommunications Regulation Act No.

30 of 2009, the government has required the country’s telecommunication regulator to ensure nationwide access to high-speed internet and international links to voice and internet via submarine cables during the course of his initial three-year term.
In addition, in April 2009 the Council of Ministers approved a ‘Universal Access Policy’ (UAP) to expand access to mobile telephony and internet in areas where telecommunication service providers cannot justify investment due to low numbers of customers.
These expansions in access are to be fi nanced by a combination of non refundable grants from donor agencies (including AusAID, which has already contributed 250 million vatu), 4% of the income earned by the telecommunication operators, and any surplus from the 2.25% mark-up charged to operators by the telecommunication service providers.
Of the 350 million vatu in the UAP fund, 100 million vatu is currently being invested alongside the Energy Unit to provide pilot power and internet programmes in rural communities.

These include two health centres in North Ambrym and South West Bay, Malakula; two high schools in Malinissi in Pentecost and Rensari in Malakula; and computer training and cyber-security systems.
Once the pilot scheme is assessed, the government will invite tenders to provide internet in numerous rural sites where it is not yet accessible.

The government has already issued operational licences to eight companies planning to introduce internet services, and is considering a tender for the provision of a submarine cable for inter-island and international linkages.

Such initiatives address one key element of the ‘systems’ approach recommended by UNCTAD: access to internet services.
But the hardware element also needs further consideration.

Given the high unit cost of PCs, and great diffi culty of operating them in areas without reliable and affordable electricity, alternative tools such as mobile phones with internet capability (which are less costly and less energy-intensive) may be a more viable option.
Where community computing facilities with laptops or PCs are provided, these may need to operate on a limited bandwidth, and for restricted hours (as has been done successfully in a small number of centres thus far).

In addition, the types of internet services that can be affordably accessed need to be considered.

Initially, these are likely to include communication modes such as email and social media sites (e.g.
Facebook) that do not require real-time interactions (in contrast to, say, live chatrooms), and low- bandwidth resources such as Wikipedia and other simple web sites (in contrast to, say, video streaming).
Experience suggests that these types of services can be offered for an approximate cost of 100vt per hour, making them affordable for occasional use, and good candidates for proliferation through mobile internet technology.24 24 Information kindly provided by Dan McGarry, an experienced ICT advisor in Vanuatu.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 18 ] Evidence of the beneﬁ ts of increased ICT access is still being assessed What will expanding access to ICTs mean for Vanuatu?
Evidence of the benefi ts of ICT use is still scarce, but earlier studies by the Pacifi c Institute of Public Policy (in 2008 and 2009)25 indicate that people throughout Vanuatu perceive increased mobile telephony to be reducing their household vulnerability, helping in the maintenance of social relationships, and lowering household costs.
Although urban residents appear to have been benefi tting more from mobile phone use thus far, both urban and rural populations have indicated that telecommunications are becoming essential for business, and have both decreased business costs and increased business opportunities.

These benefi ts, in turn, may contribute to increases in productivity that offset the costs of investing in handsets and paying for mobile calls and text messages.
island countries that have opened from other Pacifi c Evidence their telecommunications sector for competition also suggests that ICTs have been accelerators of economic growth.

For instance, the treasury department in Papua New Guinea estimated that competition in the telecommunications sector contributed to 0.7% of GDP in 2008.

The overall growth rate was 6.6% during that year.

In 2009, an estimated 30,000 people in PNG earned better incomes working as affi liated Digicel sales representatives (e.g.
selling prepaid cards, but not as direct employees of Digicel) than they had previously been able to earn in other employment.

Across the region, Digicel now employs approximately 900 people.26 Despite these promising indications, it is clear that more information is needed before drawing strongly optimistic conclusions about the impact of ICTs.

For instance, the benefi ts of improved ICT access may be constrained by shortfalls in other infrastructure.
Lack of access to electricity, and poor inter- and intra-island transportation, may be limiting the positive impacts of ICT expansion in many Pacifi c island countries.

Furthermore, the experience of island nations such as Vanuatu may be quite different to that of developing countries in Asia and Africa, where large population bases and a wider array of market opportunities form an environment in which increased ICT access can be at its most catalytic.
ICT- related economic growth may follow a different trajectory in small, remote island nations, and positive impacts on health and education services may be even more important.

Accordingly, this year’s study by the Pacifi c Institute of Public Policy sheds some important light in an area where much is still unknown.
In particular, by providing a follow-on from earlier investigations in 2008 and 2009, and by investigating new areas such as complementary infrastructure and internet use, this study helps to better illustrate Vanuatu’s unique story of telecommunications proliferation and its associated developments.
Further monitoring of these developments over the coming years—with a particular focus on internet availability and use—would help to ensure that important community changes can continue to be monitored, and the impact of policy interventions assessed.

NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU 25 Detailed information on the 2008 and 2009 studies can be found in: Sijapati-Basnett, B.
(2008, 2009) Social and Economic Impact of Introducing Telecommunications Throughout Vanuatu: Research Findings Report.

Pacifi c Institute of Public Policy.

Both reports available at: http://www.pacifi cpolicy.org 26 King, S. ‘Connecting People to Telecommunications: The Pacifi c Telecommunication Revolution’.

Island Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Business, Fiji.

http://www.islandsbusiness.com [ 19 ] 2.


Methodology The 2011 research design was based on the two previous studies on telecommunications impacts conducted by the Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy in 2008 and 2009.

These studies both involved mixed method approaches, with a combination of quantitative household surveys and qualitative focus groups and interviews.
The 2011 design was similar: data was collected from approximately 1,200 household surveys and nearly 100 focus groups and semi- structured interviews.

Conceptual framework and research design The intention of the 2011 study was to add to the 2008 and 2009 fi ndings by further exploring the ongoing impacts of mobile telephone access in a wider range of sites, as well as investigating complementary infrastructure constraints including perceptions on internet access and use.
Accordingly, modifi cations were made to the 2009 design to expand the number of research sites to include 13 rural and three urban locations across eight islands, to ask additional questions in the household surveys, and to shift the focus of the interviews and focus groups towards greater discussion of parallel infrastructure.
In this section, we explain the 2011 research design in greater detail, fi rst discussing the overarching framework, and then focussing in turn on the survey (quantitative) and interview/focus group (qualitative) study components.

The design of our 2011 study was guided by a model, originally developed by DFID,27 for studying the socioeconomic impact of telecommunications through a ‘sustainable livelihoods’ lens.
The Pacifi c Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) adapted this model for use in its 2008 and 2009 studies on telecommunications in Vanuatu.

A more detailed discussion of the original DFID model, and PiPP’s adaptations, can be found in the 2008 report.28 A key characteristic of the sustainable livelihoods approach is that it views life as multi-dimensional and comprised of interdependent human, ﬁ nancial, social and physical needs.
Rather than taking a narrow, income-based perspective, this approach views livelihoods as consisting of the combination of capabilities, material and social assets, and activities that people need to live.

It measures sustainability in terms of people’s ability to recover from shocks and maintain their standard of living without depleting their resource base.
In practical terms, adopting the sustainable livelihoods framework for our study has meant taking a mixed method approach to gather a very broad array of data 27 Souter, D., N. Scott et al.

(2005) The Economic Impact of Telecommunications on Rural Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction: A Study of Rural Communities in India (Gujurat), Mozambique and Tanzania, Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation.

Available for download at http://www.cto.int 28 Basnett, B.
(2008) Social and Economic Impact of Introducing Telecommunications Throughout Vanuatu, Research Findings Report.

Pacifi c Institute of Public Policy.

Available for download at http://www.pacifi cpolicy.org NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 20 ] on how people’s lives have been impacted by telecommunications.
This year, we have also looked more broadly at the quality and importance of other infrastructure services that moderate the infl uence of telecommunications, to place our fi ndings in a broader economic and social context.

In addition, we have acknowledged the constantly developing technological landscape by broadening our investigation to include the internet.

These two areas of investigation were not included in the earlier (2008 and 2009) studies.
As with the 2008 and 2009 studies, our research design this year incorporated both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

We used a detailed household survey to collect quantifi able measures of the social and economic impacts of telecommunications and internet, including patterns of access, ownership, use, and cost.
We also undertook focus groups with community members, and semi-structured interviews with small and medium business owners to gather more in-depth qualitative data on perceived impacts and importance of telecommunications and complementary infrastructure.
In particular, the focus groups enabled us to collect views and experiences from a cross- section of individuals from the social and business enterprise sectors, and to better understand how these individuals perceived the access and use of community infrastructure impacting on the sectors differently.
As in the 2008 and 2009 studies, the semi-structured interviews continued to explore the role of telecommunications for small to medium business expansion using a value chain analysis approach for questioning.

This approach helped to identify barriers to business enterprises at different product (product origin and location) stages, and to provide more details on the socioeconomic context in which businesses operate.
In contrast to the 2008 and 2009 studies, which used only four business interviews to construct in-depth case studies, this year we aimed to interview one male-led and one female-led business in each of the 16 sites.

We did this to better enable us to detect any gender differences in perspectives on business transactions, and to gather information from a range of varying business contexts and telecommunication experiences across both rural and urban sites.
Study locations The household survey, focus groups, and interviews were carried out on eight islands and in 16 research sites, which are listed in Table 2 below.
These sites included all 12 locations included in the 2009 study, with the addition of four further rural sites: Sola and Vetumboso in Vanua Lava (in the far north of Vanuatu), and Anelghowhat (Anelcauhat) and Umej in Aneityum (in the far south of Vanuatu).29 We decided to include these new sites in the study because they have only recently gained access to mobile telephone networks, but only have limited coverage.30 Accordingly, they provide good case studies of locations where access to telecommunications is available, but constrained.
The inclusion of these remote areas enables a better understanding of different experiences of mobile access NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 29 Detailed information on the site selection methodology for the 2008 and 2009 studies can be found in: Sijapati-Basnett, B.

(2008, 2009).

ibid.


30 Digicel extended access to Sola in Torba province in late 2010, to compete alongside Telecom Vanuatu Limited (TVL) who had been sole operators in Sola since 2009.

The village of Vetumboso and neighbouring areas can only access Digicel coverage from the periphery of the nearby towers.

People have to walk for approximately two hours to obtain adequate service coverage.

Neither Sola nor Vetumboso have access to TVL fi xed lines.
The far south island of Aneityum only started accessing TVL mobile coverage in November 2009, though it had accessed fi xed lines much earlier.

TVL mobile coverage is reasonably good in Anelghowhat, but not in Umej.

and lifestyle across Vanuatu: across the 16 research sites, we were able to assess both urban and village settings with a broad range of service coverage conditions.
Study participants Household survey As shown in Table 2, a total of 1,197 respondents completed the household survey in 2011—signifi cantly more than in previous studies (in 2008 and 2009).

The sample was weighted more towards the rural population of Vanuatu, collecting data from 767 respondents across 13 rural villages, and 430 respondents across three urban areas (equivalent in population size to villages).
Table 2 Number and proportion of respondents – by survey location31 Survey location Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total Number of respondents Percentage of total sample We targeted the survey to adult male and female members of the community who were ‘heads of household or spouses of heads of household’ over eighteen years old, and who had adequate knowledge about day-to-day household and business transactions and were able to provide reliable responses to the questions.
In most cases (52.7%), the head of the household responded to the survey.

A further 32.3% of the surveys were completed by the head of household’s spouse.

Generally, these respondent roles followed ‘traditional’ gender patterns: 90.6% of the head of households were men, and 93.9% of the spouses were women.

Other respondents included the head of household’s daughter or son, or other relatives living in the household.

The median household size was four people: two adults and two children.
However, households ranged in composition from one to 15 adults and 0 to 12 children.

The average age of respondents was 36 (s.d.=13), covering a range from 18 to 100.

As shown in Table 3 below, urban areas had a signifi cantly higher proportion of respondents aged under 25 (31.2%) than did rural areas (11.4%).

31 In this table and others in this report, columns may not add up exactly due to rounding.
[ 21 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 22 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Table 3 Proportion of respondents in each survey location in different age groups (%) Survey location Under 25 25 – 35 36 – 50 51-70 Over 70 Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total (overall sample) Most respondents had only a primary school education (50.5%), or a secondary school education (38.2%).
Education levels differed signifi cantly across survey locations, with proportionally more urban respondents (54.5%) having a secondary education compared to rural respondents (29.2%).

Table 4 below provides a breakdown of education levels by survey location.
Table 4 Proportion of respondents in each survey location by highest level of education (%) Survey location No formal Primary Secondary Tertiary Technical/ Training Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total (overall sample) Focus groups and interviews We were able to complete a total of 16 female and 15 male focus groups, 13 female and 18 male semi-structured business interviews across the 16 research communities.
This is broken down in Table 5 below.
Table 5 Number of focus groups and interviews by gender and survey location Survey location Focus groups Business interviews Male Female Male Female Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total Overall total We aimed to conduct 32 focus group discussions: one male and one female group in each of the 16 locations.
At completion, we missed this target only by one.

We were unable to collect a group of men together in Port Olry due to the very busy schedules of the men in that area (at the coconut plantation and in copra production) and village preparations for the offi cial opening of the sealed highway between Luganville and Port Olry, funded by the Millennium Challenge Account- Vanuatu (a Millennium Challenge Corporation compact).

In most cases, our focus group comprised around four or fi ve participants.
To better ascertain perceived benefi ts and changes resulting from the increased proliferation of mobile telephony to other business and service sectors, we invited participants in each area from a range of different sectors (e.g.

from the government, household, business, civil society and youth).

We tried to ensure cross-sectoral representation in all groups, but in some cases certain sectors were better represented (e.g.

more housewives than business women were available for daytime focus groups).
As with the focus groups, for the semi-structured interviews we aimed to complete a total of 32 interviews, with one male and one female business representative in each of the 16 locations.

We achieved a gender balance close to this ideal, but were unable to secure female interviews in two urban areas and one rural area.
Our interview participants were all small to medium business owners or representatives of retail operations (such as trade stores, fuel suppliers, fi sh sales, clothing manufacture and sale); motor vehicle repair workshops; tourism and hospitality (such as guesthouse and tourist stalls); copra and peanut productions and sale; [ 23 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 24 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy fi sheries; cattle farming; artefact and handicrafts; and ready-kava mix producers and sellers.
Study materials Household survey The household survey comprised 77 questions, broken down into six content- related sections.

On average, the whole survey took 50 minutes to an hour to complete.

This survey was notably longer than the one used in 2009, as it included three new sections with 38 questions on complementary infrastructure, internet and political views.

Below, we provide a brief overview of each of the survey sections, and a description of any changes made from the 2009 survey.
Household The fi rst 11 survey questions asked about basic participant demographic and household characteristics: age, gender, relationship to head of household, level of education achieved, literacy, household memberships, dependency and support and distant family and material support.

These questions were the same as those used in 2008 and 2009, with only slight structural adjustments made to improve content (fl ow and clarity) and order of the sets of questions.
However, a question about participant names was omitted as we deemed it unnecessary to obtain respondents’ identity, and wanted to ensure the survey’s confi dentiality.

Questions 3, 6 and 7 (12, 18 and 19 in 2009) about relationship to head of household, total household membership, and number of members who depended upon and/or supported the household are key household questions.

These were revised to improve fl ow, linkages and clarity between the questions and their responses.
The main revision to question 12 (2009) was on the set of responses.

The wording of the set of responses for the question-how many of your household members depend on or support ‘you’ (2009) was altered to how many of your household members depend on or support ‘your household’ so that the response was consistent with the question and also the earlier question that asked how many of your household members depend on or support your household?
In other words, the sum of household members depending on and supporting should equal the sum of total household members in the earlier question.

In the initial studies, it was noted that when enumerators asked how many support/depend on you, rather than your household, this automatically excluded those respondents who were not always the heads of households, (e.g.

wives or other spouses) and who were either only ‘depending on or supporting household’ in the corresponding count.
The effect of this was seen in the uneven sum of the total household members with this and the former question.
Economics The next survey section (questions 12-29) asked about the types of work for households and their monthly income; complementary infrastructure services that households access and use (such as roads, wharves, shipping and electricity); perceived social and economic changes in the last two years; and participation of respondents in community self-help groups, including the size and aim of, and means of communication used by such groups.
The specifi c question on household economics was separated (into parts A and B) and asked about the different types of work that the households were engaged in and their monthly household income.

The specifi c questions on service (complementary services) looked at the types of transport (truck/bus, bicycle, motorbike, boats) the household owned and their costs (e.g.

of fuel) including roads and types of roads in their areas.
In addition to questions on ownership of transport, were questions on access and cost of shipping, electricity and telecommunication (coverage) services to households’ social and economic lives, and fi nally were those about household social and economic changes in the last two years and participation by respondents in self-help groups or organisations in the community, including the size aims and objectives of such groups and their common means of communication.
The major changes to this section this year have been the addition of eight new questions on complementary infrastructure services.

The remaining questions were the taken from the 2008 and 2009 surveys.
The new questions were added to capture the key fi ndings and recommendations of the 2009 study, which identifi ed complementary infrastructure as posing challenges (such as lack of proper access to and cost of electricity, lack of full mobile coverage, and transport limitations) to the full utilisation of mobile phones.

Accordingly, it was relevant that the key parallel infrastructure to phones were explored in more detail in this year’s study.
Former questions on property ownership (question numbers 29, 31, 33 and 34 in the 2008 and 2009 surveys) were omitted, as they were deemed less important for this year’s study.

General communication means and preferences Two questions (30 and 31) asked about the common forms of communication and their importance and how people used these different types to communicate for business, social, emergency, government service delivery, non-government organisation and weather related activities.
There was no addition or subtraction of questions in this section compared to previous years.

Access, use and cost of telecommunications The twenty questions (32-51) on access, use and cost of telecommunications had questions further sub-divided by access and use in the last two years, current use and frequency of use and cost of using phones.
The fi rst fi ve questions (32-36) asked about types of phones accessed and frequency and patterns of phone use in the last two years, current household access, and number of household members owning phones.
The next 15 questions (37-51) covered the respondent’s current phone ownership and use; means of obtaining a phone; purchase cost, brands of phone and types of SIM cards (service providers) used; frequency of phone use; alternatives to using a mobile phone if not a phone owner; source of electricity used to charge mobile phone, cost per charge and distance travelled to charge and the related cost and total (overall) cost of phones (mobile, private and public fi xed lines); and frequency of phone use for businesses, social (health and education) and emergency related activities.
There were ten new questions added to this section this year (compared to the 2009 survey), primarily focussed on phone charging and cost of charging.

[ 25 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 26 ] Impact of phones Section fi ve comprised important questions (52-58) on impact.
This section asked questions specifi cally about the benefi ts of phones in a range of business and social livelihood areas; the impact on business (economic activities) if phones were not used; if the use of other forms of communication changed with use of phones and options; and reasons for not owning and or using a phone in future.
Questions on the negative social effects of phones were also asked, and covered social issues that were potentially affected by phones such as young people, education, marital relationships and reduction in traditional forms of communication.

These questions were largely the same as those used in the 2008 and 2009 studies.

The only change to this section was the addition of a new question (55) on the negative social effects of phones, which was not captured in the 2009 survey.
Internet/email access, use and perception Section six of the survey focussed on the internet.

There were a total of 15 perception questions (59-74) on awareness, knowledge, access to, and use of the internet.
This set of questions was entirely new this year, and asked specifi cally about: if the participant has ever seen and used internet before; the time they had fi rst used internet; normal places of access; frequency of use; cost of internet; importance of internet; effect if not used; social and negative effects; source of awareness and learning about internet; reasons for not currently using internet; possibilities of use and reasons for not using; ease of using internet; and its benefi ts.
Opinion Polling The last section was on polling and contained four questions related to in Vanuatu.

These three policy areas perception questions asked about: who was responsible for changes in the telecommunications sector; performance of government in the last two years; and priorities requiring government attention.
telecommunications sector the in Other general modiﬁ cations to 2009 survey The changes made to the 2009 survey—such as the additions of new sections and sets of questions on complementary infrastructure in section 2 (household economics) and section 4 (telecommunications access, use and cost) including section 6 (internet perceptions)—were made following consultation and agreement with the Vanuatu Telecommunications Regulator and AusAID GFG.
In addition to these broader changes, we made some further general revisions and adjustments to the 2009 questions.

These revisions were based on review and feedback from the research team (comprised of the 2008-2009 study lead- researcher, the fi eld supervisors, the telecommunications expert and the research manager).

The challenges, experiences and lessons learnt in past studies were accommodated to improve the 2011 questionnaire.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy The general revisions included slightly revising the content and order of many of the questions to: improve fl ow, linkages and clarity; enable direct Bislama translations of the content of questions; and, most importantly, to help both the interviewers and their respondents to understand the questions well and prompt/ provide accurate responses.
Our enumerators and respondents have varying education and literacy levels, which can affect responses if questions are unclear.

The layout of the questionnaire was also revised and had the key contents (sections, questions and interview instructions, their responses, codes and skip instructions) in four columns by question number, questions and ﬁ lters, coding categories, and skips.
Column one contained question numbers, which further had the code as new and 2008 to identify the new questions added in 2011 from the old (2008) and unchanged questions.

The question and fi lters column contained all the questions and interviewer’s response eliciting instructions, while the coding categories had the sets of responses and their codes and the skip column had all the skip instructions for the interviewers.
In addition to the columns, all our section questions were prefaced with short and clear introductory narratives explaining each new section.

The content of some of the 2009 questions was generally revised without necessarily altering the meaning of the questions.

Most adjustments were made to the set of responses to match the question or vice versa.

A few complex questions were broken into parts (A and B) to make the question simpler.
Translation The fi nal accepted English version was translated by an experienced translator from the Vanuatu Cultural Centre and further verifi ed a number of times by the ni-Vanuatu research team members.

themes and questions Focus groups and interviews Focus groups This year’s focus group question guide covered four themes and 27 specifi c questions.

The focussed on priority community infrastructure; community development; community constraints; and community communication.
The focus group themes and questions were intended to complement the reports on some key household survey questions.

They provided further detail on the different contexts, important benefi ts and constraints of community infrastructure (telecommunications, internet, electricity, shipping and roads) to social life.
Whereas the 2009 focus group questions were related to case studies with very comprehensive focus on individual and household income and expenditure patterns, the 2011 focus group questions had a new focus on complementary infrastructure access and service levels and costs, and how these serve as constraints on the proliferation of mobile phones and on changes in other social and economic sectors.
Interviews This year’s semi-structured interviews were related to small–medium businesses’ operations and covered specifi c questions on: the types (focus) of business; the business value chain describing the operation of the business in terms of supply, distribution, quality control, business income and cost; and business internet.
The communication and stages which often use phones and questions focussed in this area aimed to explore the changes and impact of telecommunications including complementary infrastructure on growth of small to medium businesses.

Few content-related changes were made to this year’s business interview questions on the value chain.
That said, minor revisions were made to reduce [ 27 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 28 ] the level of detail collected, and to move some questions to fi t a more logical structure.

In addition, questions were added regarding business communication.
Translation Both the fi nal English versions of the focus group and semi-structured interviews were translated into Bislama in preparation for fi eldwork in the research communities.

Study procedure Sampling design The selection of the research locations and interview participants was based on the principles of purposive or convenience sampling.

This type of sampling procedure was well suited to our aim of selecting research sites with different levels of access to mobile telephony.
In using this type of non-random sampling, we were mindful of the limitations it would have on the representativeness of our results.

To improve the representativeness of our results, we aimed to interview approximately 80% of the households in each site.

To calculate the projected sample size, we used 2009 national census household data from the Vanuatu National Statistics Offi ce (VNSO).
However, in some sites (Ngala, Middle Bush/Lamnatu, Lenakel, Lamen Bay and Atangurua/Atabulu) we found that taking 80% of the VNSO local population fi gures actually resulted in a lower sample size than that obtained in our 2009 study (as shown in the fi rst and second columns of Table 5 below), suggesting some discrepancy in either the offi cial fi gures or in the land boundaries being used to demarcate each location.
Accordingly, we opted to choose the higher fi gure of either the 2009 survey sample or 80% of the VNSO fi gure as our modifi ed projected sample size for 2011 (shown in the third column of Table 5).32 Overall, we sampled considerably more households this year than in 2009, particularly in rural areas.

However, in doing so we exceeded our projected sample size by a small amount—43 surveys, or approximately 1.3%.
This over-sampling was likely due to some miscommunications between survey enumerators, and can be viewed as a limitation in our survey data.

NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 32 Exceptions to this approach were made in Blacksands and Port Olry, where we used the VNSO-based sample fi gure.

The reason for this is that we had adjusted the VNSO fi gure in line with geographical mapping, as explained in the note to Table 6.
[ 29 ] Table 6 Projected and actual survey size and percentages by survey location33 Survey locations Blacksands (Efate) Freshwota 1 (Efate) Chapuis East (Santo) URBAN Anelghowhat (Aneityum) Atangurua/Atabulu (Pentecost) Lenakel/Isini (Tanna) Lamen Bay (Epi) Middle Bush/Lamnatu (Tanna) Levetlis (Pentecost) Ngala (Epi) Port Narvin (Erromango) Port Olry (Santo) Sola (Vanua Lava) Umej (Aneityum) Unpongkor (Erromango) Vetumboso (Vanua Lava) RURAL TOTAL Actual survey sample 2009 Projected sample 2011 (80% of VNSO area pop.)
Modiﬁ ed projected sample 2011 Actual survey sample 2011 111 67 95 273 – 60 59 57 62 19 53 50 76 – – 58 – Survey ﬁ eld team selection and training Three survey fi eld teams of two fi eld supervisors each (one PiPP offi cer and one non-PiPP offi cer) and enumerators covered the 16 research sites.
Team A comprised the Research Manager (PiPP offi cer) and fi eld supervisor lead, and completed fi eld work with 16 enumerators in the northern islands of Santo and Vanua Lava (Torba Province).

Team B comprised a PiPP Offi cer (Communications Offi cer) and fi eld supervisor leader, and completed fi eld work on the islands of Erromango and Pentecost with 11 enumerators.
Team C comprised the PiPP Research offi cer and the qualitative fi eld supervisor led and completed the fi eldwork with 25 enumerators in the southern islands of Aneityum, Tanna, Epi and Efate.

The telecommunications expert accompanied Team C (only for a few days) for fi eld work in the southern islands.
Selection of ﬁ eld supervisors and enumerators Prior to commencing fi eldwork we selected and trained our fi eld supervisors in Port Vila, who then selected and trained enumerators in each of the local research sites.

All of the fi eld supervisors and the fi eld enumerators were selected on the basis of their high level of experience, knowledge and skills in survey related fi eldwork and requisite language skills.
33 The original VNSO fi gures for Port Olry (255) and Blacksands (943) were disproportionately large compared to most other rural and urban sites, respectively.

In order to keep site sample sizes within a comparable range, we carried out geographical mapping in Port Olry and Blacksands, in which we used Google Maps and explorations by foot to redefi ne the land boundaries used by VNSO to cover a smaller area, and head counted households within that area.
In Port Olry, we obtained a head count of 59 households, from which we selected 47 households (80%) as the sample size.

This smaller area in Port Olry covered only sector 1 (not sectors 2-5 in the area), consistent with coverage in the 2008 study.

In Blacksands, we counted 278 households, from which we selected 222 (80%) as the sample size.
This smaller area within Blacksands covered the land stretching from the right side of the Blacksands road (driving in from North Efate/Mele highway and Blacksands intersection) towards the seashore.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 30 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy One of the fi eld supervisors had previously performed the same role in the 2008 and 2009 surveys and was experienced.

The other supervisor was new, but had been involved in some surveys previously.
A total of 52 enumerators based throughout the 16 research sites were initially identifi ed through PiPP’s network and with the help of the Vanuatu National Statistics Offi ce (VNSO) on Tanna, Efate, Santo and Vanua Lava, Pentecost and Erromango.

The enumerators were contacted and informed beforehand about the study, time of fi eldwork and when to expect the team leaders arriving from Port Vila.

Each site had a contact person who assisted in informing and mobilising the enumerators.
A good number of enumerators were involved in these roles in the 2008 and 2009 surveys and the new ones had conducted surveys either with the VNSO or other organisations, and were well prepared and knew what to expect.

Training materials The training materials were a study training manual and 2011 English and Bislama questionnaire.
The manual contained the general background information of the 2008, 2009 and 2011 studies and outlined the key features of this year’s questionnaire (number of questions, the seven sections and 77 questions and what each meant, the response seeking instructions, coding categories and skip instructions).

The manual was accompanied by a projected sample size target sheet containing the number of surveys to be achieved at each site, and the main steps to introducing and ending the fi eldwork.
Training of ﬁ eld supervisors and enumerators There were two sets of training conducted before the survey fi eldwork.

The fi rst training was conducted in Port Vila at PiPP for fi eld supervisors (both the PiPP Offi cers and non-PiPP offi cers).

All fi eld supervisors went through thorough one- day training, mainly on the content of the questionnaire.
Because of the revisions to the questionnaire, the increase in length of the survey, and the different levels of education of enumerators and respondents who would ask and answer the questions, it was important to provide thorough, section-by-section and question- by-question training on the questionnaire (fl ow, format, context and meaning, skip instructions, importance of the questions).

This was made compulsory for the fi eld supervisors, who would then replicate this training for the enumerators.
In addition, the supervisors were taken through the general sampling procedure with specifi c explanation of the sample (survey) targets for each site and the roles, responsibilities and code of conduct for team members.

A second training session was conducted with enumerators by the fi eld supervisors at the research site, usually during the fi rst day after the supervisor’s arrival.
Detailed explanation and clarifi cation was provided to assist enumerators in understanding the questions at this training.

At end of the training the enumerators did a trial survey amongst themselves to calculate the speed, determine the fl ow and ease of the overall questionnaire, and report any confusing questions or features for improvement.
Additionally, a few confusing Bislama translations were identifi ed by the enumerators, which further assisted in fi ne-tuning the questions in preparation for the interviews commencing the following day.

Survey household interviews After the training, the household survey interviews took on average four days to complete, except for sites with huge survey samples (like Blacksands, which took close to two weeks to complete).
[ 31 ] All but one of the surveys (which was conducted in English) was conducted in either Bislama (78% of the total sample) or the relevant local language (22% of the total sample), according to the respondents’ preference and level of fl uency.

As shown in Table 6 below, almost all respondents in urban areas (99%) elected to use Bislama, while a third of those in rural areas (34%) preferred their local language.
These languages comprised: Anejom, Nathura, Kanuu, Nave, Ngunese, Orung, Raga, Sakao, Se or Sye, and Vures.34 Translations of the survey from Bislama into the local language were made by enumerators (who themselves were locals) during each interview.

This may have resulted in some variation in the way certain questions were interpreted and explained to respondents.
However, it also enabled respondents to communicate in the language they were most comfortable with (ensuring people were not excluded by reason of language), and was the most viable option for languages that are primarily oral, rather than written.

The enumerators were selected for their experience in this type of work, were given training to ensure they had understood the survey (in Bislama) before administering it, and were the best available judges of the equivalence of terms across languages.
Thus, we have reasonable confi dence in the translations they provided to respondents.
Table 7 Number and proportion of respondents using Bislama and local languages — by location Survey location Bislama (#) Bislama (%) Local language (#) Local language (%) Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total (overall sample) Overall, the survey interviews throughout the sites were successful.
There were no reports of refusals or incomplete surveys.

All the surveys were checked and dated by the supervisors at the end of interview days.

34 Language preferences also varied signifi cantly by age and education level.

For instance, the majority (91.4%) of respondents aged under 25 used Bislama, while those in older age groups were more likely to select their local language (ranging from 20% of those aged 25 to 35, to 30% of those aged 51 to 70).
Likewise, respondents with secondary or tertiary education were signifi cantly more likely to select Bislama (87% and 95% of each group, respectively) than were those with only primary education (74%), or no formal education (46%).
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 32 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Challenges and limitations The challenges that enumerators faced in implementing the survey included confusing skip patterns, omissions, and translation discrepancies in a few questions; the length of the survey (which made it diffi cult to complete many in one day); and differences in understanding among the enumerators.
These issues were generally managed well in the fi eld, although they may have limited the accuracy of some fi ndings (we make special note of this in the introduction to our fi ndings on the internet, which are based on a smaller sample size).

We also acknowledge that the survey focussed on collecting adult views.

This means that youth voices are not well represented in the fi ndings in this report.
It is likely that responses to questions on how phones are used, or where the internet is accessed (amongst others) would have differed signifi cantly if posed to a younger audience.

Qualitative ﬁ eld teams and training ﬁ eldwork The three survey fi eld teams also comprised the qualitative fi eld supervisors.

From the two member teams, one of the team members was responsible for completing the qualitative work.
For teams A (Santo and Vanua Lava) and B (Erromango and Pentecost), the PiPP offi cers (Research Manager and Communications Offi cer) led and undertook the qualitative work.

For Team C (Aneityum, Tanna, Epi and Efate) a qualitative fi eld supervisor based in Port Vila was identifi ed and selected to lead and complete the qualitative fi eldwork.
Selection of qualitative ﬁ eld supervisors The qualitative fi eld supervisor was identifi ed using the PiPP network, and selected based on merit and previous work experience in qualitative work.

Qualitative training of ﬁ eld supervisors The qualitative fi eld supervisors (both PiPP offi cers and non-PiPP offi cers) are based in Port Vila.

Before the fi eldwork all supervisors attended a week long qualitative training jointly organised by the World Bank’s Justice Blong Everiwan Project and PiPP.
The fi eld research supervisors (both survey and qualitative) learned about qualitative research strategies, methods and techniques and general qualitative research processes and differences between quantitative and qualitative research.

Additionally, these fi eld supervisors participated in the quantitative survey training at Port Vila before travelling out to the research sites.
The survey training also included a session on the fi nal English and Bislama focus group and semi- structured interview guides to get all supervisors familiar with the themes and questions.

Fieldwork The qualitative fi eldwork commenced at the same time as the quantitative survey work across the 16 sites.

Most discussions and semi-structured interviews commenced the day following arrival, as soon as meetings and interviews were arranged.
Information on: number of participants, the relevant representatives, gender, rough meeting/interview schedules for both the focus groups and semi- structured interviews were provided in advance to the key contact person at the research sites, who had made some prior arrangement or alerted potential participants.

The fi eld supervisors had to draw on much needed support from the community to get suffi cient numbers of participants.
Community members leaders and (including village chiefs, churches, NGOs, and government representatives, and household mothers) assisted with arrangements for the focus groups and to identify the small-medium business owners and representatives.

For the focus groups, the help of a male and female assistant was useful.

These assistants mobilised and organised groups of men and women for focus groups and discussions.
These assistants identifi ed adult male and female representatives of households, government offi cials, NGOs, youth groups and businesses in the relevant locations.

The assistants further assisted the fi eld supervisors in arranging the meetings including times and venues.

For small to medium business interviews the arrangements were straightforward: the fi eld supervisor (facilitator) only needed to approach the owner at the business venue (e.g.

trade store or guest house) to arrange an interview.
At times when owners or adult representatives were not present, meetings and appointments were delayed until a more suitable time.

Both the focus group discussions and interviews commenced and ended in a similar pattern.

The supervisor fi rst commenced with a brief introduction of the study (objectives and aims).

This put the participants at ease and helped to get their attention.

Where tape or digital recorders were used, permission was requested before continuing.
In all the discussions and interviews, participants and interviewees welcomed the use of recording devices and were pleased to participate.

Generally the focus groups went well, with fairly good representation from the different sectors across the research sites for both the male and female groups.

The group discussions normally took more than an hour to complete.

In focus groups where the facilitators were unable to contain discussions, it took longer, even two hours.
The outcomes of the discussions were either tape recorded or summarised in notebooks and safely kept.

The semi-structured interviews also progressed well, with no records of refusal to participate and good participation from people of both genders.

Depending on educational levels of the interviewees, it took almost 50 minutes to an hour to complete a semi-structured business interview.

As with the focus groups, notes were written in notebooks or recorded on tapes and digital recorders.
Challenges and limitations For focus groups, the main challenge was in getting suffi cient numbers of adult participants.

This was due to busy schedules, and not all representatives turning up at the agreed meeting time and venue for discussions.

We also acknowledge that the focus groups, like the household survey, focussed on collecting adult views.

This means that youth voices are not well represented in the fi ndings in this report.
An additional study looking specifi cally at youth experiences could help to address this gap, and shed more light on, for instance, the perceived social issues reported in our section on phone use.

For example, many adult respondents felt that phones may have been causing problems amongst youth.
However, young people may see this differently, viewing mobile phones as a source of autonomy, or as a means of having more secure and confi dential interactions with each other through SMS, without the pressures involved in face-to-face contact.

We hope that future studies will be able to explore youth experiences further.
[ 33 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Analytical approach We analysed the quantitative data from the household surveys using Microsoft Excel and SPSS 18.0 software.

Our analyses focussed primarily on frequency counts and proportions (percentages) for each of the responses.
We also conducted a chi square analysis on the frequency distribution of responses for each question by respondent group (shown using cross-tabulations).

There are some limitations to using this analytical approach with unequal cell distributions, and where data was likely not missing completely at random.
However, the chi square results gave us at least an indication of whether response patterns that appeared to differ across respondents from different survey locations, or across different age groups, or between men and women were really different, or were perhaps just artefacts of our dataset.
Taking a conservative approach, in our results section we have reported between- group differences only where the chi square test showed that these differences were signifi cant at the p = <0.001 level—that is, only if there was less than a 1% probability that the differences could have occurred by chance.
Thus, if the results showed that more men responded ‘yes’ to one of the questions, and more women responded ‘no’, we do not report this difference if it is not signifi cant, because it could be a chance outcome, rather than a real difference between men and women in Vanuatu.

For the qualitative data, all discussions and interviews were summarised in notebooks and or recorded using both digital and cassette recorders.
Notebook summaries were then directly translated into English and digital and cassette recordings were verbatim transcribed, translated, summarised and entered in an excel ‘database’ summarising key themes.

A full analysis was not performed on the qualitative narratives, but some key fi ndings are presented as ‘qualitative insights’ in this report (including direct quotations, edited to be grammatical in English, from interviews and focus groups), to complement and further expand on our survey analysis.
In addition, a write-up on the small-medium business interviews is provided in Appendix A.

[ 34 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Communication activities carried out at the completion of ﬁ eldwork In some research sites, we carried out communication activities at the completion of the quantitative and qualitative ﬁ eldwork.
We were careful to ensure that the communication activities took place after data collection was complete, so as not to inﬂ uence the responses collected in each area.

two activities—research dissemination and awareness building—were Our packaged as part of PiPP’s overall communication strategy to promote community conversations about key ﬁ ndings from its research and policy analysis.
The aim of the ﬁ rst activity was to share key ﬁ ndings from PiPP’s 2009 study with the community members, in order to help them understand both the wider beneﬁ ts and common concerns surrounding telecommunications policies.
The key ﬁ ndings we discussed included: • The increase in access to and use of mobile phones and perceived beneﬁ ts and costs (social concerns) relating to phones in general and in speciﬁ c relation to gender, small to medium businesses, and household expenditure; • How phones were assisting both men and women in their different social (e.g.

family, church) and economic (e.g.
business) roles and responsibilities; • Disparities between men and women in mobile phone ownership, use of SMS texting, frequency of phone use and purpose of phone use; • Key concerns for women regarding the impacts of telecommunications on their children’s health, well-being, extramarital affairs, and teenage pregnancies; • Key concerns for men regarding the impacts of telecommunications on the breakdown of custom and the authority of chiefs, communal harmony, self- sufﬁ ciency of rural economy, and land disputes; • The role of telecommunications in supporting sustainable small to medium business and economic growth in Vanuatu, including business observations on how telecommunications have reduced the cost of doing business, helped in business growth, improved the ﬂ ow of information and communication channels, assisted efﬁ ciency, and complemented face-to-face communication; • The proportion of household income spent on buying and using phones, and related concerns about managing expenditure on phones.
A question and answer session following our presentation encouraged very strong community conversations, debates, and afﬁ rmations.

To most people the ﬁ ndings reﬂ ected their own experiences.

In the new sites (where the 2009 study had not been conducted), people talked about their own experiences and appreciated the ﬁ ndings as giving them additional awareness and learning about phones.

Many also reﬂ ected on how the experiences of phones in other islands were slowly being seen in their lives.
In sites where phones have been available for longer, people discussed [ 35 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 36 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy the need for the community to manage the social concerns surrounding phones and appreciated the different beneﬁ ts of mobile telephony.
The aim of the second activity was to help people learn more about different ways of maximising the beneﬁ ts of ICTs in their lives.

As new ICTs are being gradually introduced into the country (such as internet, SMS banking, and green energy initiatives), we feel that creating awareness on their different beneﬁ ts, as well as potential social concerns, is important.
Often people remain uninformed about certain policies and interventions until the service reaches them, which may limit the ways in which the technology is used.

The ICT awareness session was a ﬁ rst of its kind, and was well received, particularly in the most remote sites.

In developing content for the awareness sessions we reviewed a number of ICT (mobile SMS, M-banking (Mobile Banking), internet/email) and green energy innovations from around the world.
Key topics covered in the sessions included: • Mobile innovations in health.

One example we discussed was Project Masiluleke in South Africa, which is designed to harness the power of mobile technology as a high-impact, low-cost tool in the ﬁ ght against HIV/AIDS.

As part of the project, one million text messages per day are being sent throughout South Africa encouraging people to be tested and treated for HIV/AIDS.
We discussed how similar programs could be run in Vanuatu, for different health issues; • Mobile SMS innovations in agriculture.

For example, we discussed the use of Google Trader, a marketplace application used in Uganda that allows people to buy and sell goods and services on their phone using SMS.

This application was developed in response to discussions with Uganda’s rural producers and consumers where it was revealed that they face challenges linking with markets.
We discussed how a similar application could work in Vanuatu.

In remote Torba province, the agricultural ofﬁ cer based in Sola talked about using basic mobile SMS to receive and pass on information from farmers; • Mobile innovations in banking.

At the time of ﬁ eld planning, the Vanuatu National Bank was trialling a mobile SMS service for their rural customers.

We discussed how useful this could be for communities.
Most of the sessions focussed on mobile phones (particularly SMS), because most people in sessions held at remote areas like Vetumboso (Banks) did not know about internet/email.

However, they appreciated the learning from the research teams as well from other members who knew more about the internet.

The overall feedback from these sessions was very positive.

People requested more of this type of activity for their communities.
They thought such activities would help them understand how new policies and technology changes would impact on their lives.

Many older people expressed fears surrounding the many as-yet-unknown social concerns, particularly potential bad inﬂ uences of the internet on young people.

Others were more positive and provided balanced views.
Those in some form of business discussed the beneﬁ ts of internet and phones, but at the same time appreciated the need to manage the negative effects of phones on youth and in marital relationships.

3.

Household economics To build a picture of the ﬁ nancial resources that survey respondents had access to, we asked them to describe various economic conditions in their households.

As we report in this section, we found that the average household had two income earners and two dependents.
Urban households had considerably higher incomes and were more likely to have members in paid employment than were rural households, which primarily earned income from agriculture or self-employment.

The majority of households had family living elsewhere in Vanuatu, and received some economic support (primarily goods, food, and money) from these family members.

However, households were not highly reliant on this outside support.
Support and dependents within the household The most common fi nancial arrangement for households in this survey (i.e.

the modal response) was for each to have two people contributing to the household fi nancially, and two fi nancial dependents.

However, the number providing fi nancial support ranged from one to 15, and the number depending on fi nancial support ranged from one to 16.
Looking at arithmetic averages, most households had only one person (30.5%) or two people (44.9%) providing fi nancial support; a similar proportion (77.8%) had four or fewer fi nancial dependents.

There were no signifi cant differences in the number of fi nancial supporters and dependents across survey locations.

Household income Where does the money come from?

We asked respondents fi rst where their household earned income from, and then how much they earned from each source, per month.
As Table 8 below indicates, the majority of respondents (68.3%) reported that their household income came from only one of the source categories included in the survey.35 However, this proportion differed substantially between urban and rural areas: more respondents in urban areas (40.4%) reported multiple household income sources than did respondents in rural areas (24.1%).
Across all areas, self-employment and paid work were the main sources of household income (44.5 and 43.9% of respondents, respectively, reported that their household income came from these sources), followed by agriculture (34.1%).

Again, though, this pattern differed between areas, with a much greater proportion 35 Note that this does not imply a single source of income, just a single type of income; for example, households may have had two sources of income from paid work.
[ 37 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 38 ] of urban respondents (86.0%) indicating they or their household members were in paid employment compared to rural respondents (20.0%).

These differences between rural and urban areas are further refl ected in the signifi cant differences in reported income sources across respondent age groups and education levels, and between men and women.
Most notably with respect to age, relatively far more respondents aged under 25 (64.5%) said they or their household members were in paid work compared to those aged 25 and over (31.4%).

Conversely, these young respondents were less likely to be in households earning an income from agriculture (only 26.3% of under 25-year-olds reported this income source) than were older respondents (41.4% of those aged 25 and older).
These age differences likely refl ect the higher proportion of youth in urban areas, where the greatest concentration of paid work is located.

A similar difference existed between respondents with different levels of education: those with a tertiary qualifi cation were far more likely to be in a household earning income from paid work (83.7%) than were those with no formal education (16.5%).
In fact, increasing levels of respondent education appeared to relate to a greater proportion of respondents reporting household income from paid work, ranging from 30.1% of those with primary education, to 60.5% of those with secondary education, to 77.2% of those who had been to technical colleges or training schools.
The opposite pattern was true with respect to agriculture: 46.3% of those with no formal education were in households earning income from this source, decreasing to 42.6% of those with primary education, to 23.1% of those with secondary education, to 18.1% of those with technical training, to as few as 11.6% of those with tertiary education.
Although the respondent was not always the sole or even primary income earner in each household, these trends suggest a strong relationship between education and employment, and likely also refl ect the higher levels of education for respondents in urban areas.

Finally, a notable difference between men and women was that a greater proportion of female respondents were in households earning income from paid work (51.0%) compared to men (38.9%).
On the other hand, relatively more men were in households engaged in agriculture and fi shing (59.6% and 11.3% respectively) compared to women (46.1% and 5.1% respectively).36 NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 36 These differences should be interpreted with caution, as they may have been infl uenced by the time of day in which the survey was carried out.
Although survey enumerators visited households at different times throughout the day (ranging from 7am to 6pm), many of these visits may have been during ‘‘working hours’’, when people in paid work would not have been home.

In such cases, female spouses of the head of household may have reported income from paid work in reference to their spouse, not themselves.
This may have also affected the accuracy of the amounts of income recorded: where women reported income for their spouse, they may not have known the exact amounts being earned.
[ 39 ] Table 8 Proportion of respondents earning some income from various sources (%)37 Survey location Paid work Self- employed Agriculture Fishing Other Single income source Multiple income sources Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total When asked to specify the types of agriculture they or their household members were engaged in, the most frequently cited crops were copra (133 responses), kava (90 responses), and taro (38 responses).
A few households farmed chickens, pigs, peanuts, bananas, coffee, or manioc.

We also asked those who indicated that their household income came from fi shing to specify which kinds of sea life they caught.

The most frequently cited were naura/lobster (31 responses), man gru/sardine (13), reef fi sh (nine), and tuna (six).

Finally, we asked respondents whose households earned income from ‘other’ sources to identify this source.
A couple said they sold items at the market, and one household earned income from a member who was a New Zealand seasonal worker.

However, the most common ‘other’ sources of income were from forestry in general (six responses), and sandalwood farming in particular (15), and from red mat and basket weaving (eight).

How much?
How much?

Some respondents declined to provide information about their household income levels (50 respondents; approximately 1.5% of the total sample), so we do not have a full picture of household economic resources.

We also have no means to verify the income amounts reported by respondents.

Nevertheless, some interesting patterns emerge from our survey data.
Firstly, the responses we gathered suggest that paid work provided the highest household income amounts per month: 57.8% of those households earning income from paid work were earning over 30,000vt per month, compared to only 14.9% of those earning income from agricultural work, 17.9% of those earning 37 The categories of income in columns 2 to 6 are non-exclusive (e.g.

some respondents may earn income from both paid work and agriculture).
However, columns 7 and 8 represent exclusive groupings: either respondents indicated they had a single income source, or they indicated multiple sources.

In some cases respondents did not offer a response for the income question, so columns 7 and 8 do not always add to 100% in each row.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 40 ] income from fi shing, 22.1% of those earning income from self-employment, and 8.0% of those earning income from other sources.

Of course, as indicated in Table 8 above, approximately a third of households were earning incomes from multiple sources; thus, in many cases, these lower-earning vocations may have been providing secondary (or seasonally-confi ned) incomes.
Secondly, looking at overall income levels, average monthly household income signifi cantly differed between urban and rural areas: in urban areas it was over 68,000vt per month, which was over twice as much as in rural areas (28,474vt per month).
The average income across the total sample was just under 43,000vt per month, but this ranged from as low as 5,000vt to as high as 320,000vt, as shown in Table 9 below.38 Figure 3 illustrates the spread of total reported monthly income across the income bands used for collecting data in the survey.
Table 9 Mean monthly household income of respondents in different survey locations39 Survey location Mean monthly income Standard deviation Sample size Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total Compared to data reported in the Vanuatu National Statistic Offi ce’s 2006 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), these income fi gures are somewhat lower than would be expected.
According to the HIES, the average urban household income in 2006 was 86,200vt per month, and the average rural household income was 52,500 per month.

This discrepancy may suggest that our sample is not representative of the national average.

However, it is also likely due to differences in the data collection processes in the two surveys, and the limited reliability of income self-reports.
In rural areas, in particular, income tends to be irregular and seasonal, and households may have diffi culty estimating their monthly averages.

39 We calculated mean total household income levels by converting categorical income bands into continuous variables (e.g.

converting ‘under 10,000’ to 5,000, ‘between 10,000 and 20,000’ to 15,000, ‘between 50,000 and 70,000’ to 60,000, and ‘over 100,000’ to 130,000, etc.)

for each of the income types (i.e.


paid work, agriculture, self employment, fi shing, and other), and then summing these separate incomes for each respondent.

An analysis of variance procedure indicated that the mean total income levels varied signifi cantly across the survey locations reported in the table (F(14)= 10.43, p<0.001).
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 41 ] Figure 3 Frequencies of reported total household income (by income band) 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 <10,000vt 10-20,000vt 20-30,000vt 30-50,000vt 50-70,000vt 70-100,000vt >100,000vt Support from outside the household Importantly, many households relied not just on their own incomes, as described above, but on support from other family members—including those living far away.
Who has family outside the household?

It appears common for families to be widely dispersed: the majority of respondents (78.9%) said they had family members living elsewhere in Vanuatu.

In addition, a sizeable proportion (29.7%) had family members living overseas.
As shown in Table 10, this dispersal of family members differed signifi cantly across different survey locations (although there was no signifi cant pattern of difference between rural and urban locations—proportions were much the same in each, and in line with the national average, and thus are not reported).
Table 10 Respondents with family members living elsewhere – by survey location (%) Survey location Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso Total Family living elsewhere in Vanuatu Family living overseas What support do these distant family members provide?
Respondents reported receiving a range of different types of support from these family members living elsewhere.

The most common type of support was clothing (14.9% of all respondents received this type of support), followed by money (13.6%) and island food (12.1%).
However, the proportion of respondents receiving each type of support differed signifi cantly across urban and rural areas, and across NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 42 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU survey locations.
As shown in Table 11, many more urban respondents (30.9%) reported receiving island food from their families than did rural respondents (2.1%), presumably because rural families were able to grow this food themselves or source it from their local community.

Conversely, more rural respondents than urban respondents reported receiving items such as clothes and mobile phones— likely because these items are relatively easier to access and more affordable for urban households.
Other forms of support identifi ed by respondents included kava, building tools and materials, rice, school stationery, soap, TV screens, generators, and other retail goods.
Table 11 Proportion of respondents receiving various kinds of support from family members living elsewhere (%)40 Survey location Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total Receive clothes Receive money Receive mobile phone(s) Receive island food Receive other support – 5.6 21.3 – – 9.4 2.6 7.3 6.2 48.4 4.3 20.9 30.9 2.5 – 1.5 – – – 3.4 – – 9.5 – 7.9 – 2.1 12.5 0.4 0.9 – 0.5 – 6.1 – 1.6 3.0 23.3 1.7 5.6 – 1.6 – 4.7 1.3 2.7 2.3 When we asked respondents how frequently they received each of these kinds of support, their responses ranged from once a year to once per week.
On average, respondents who were supported by their families were sent mobile phones approximately once a year, clothes twice a year, money three times per year, and other forms of support six times per year.

Although there were some differences in the frequency of support reported in different areas, these differences were small and are not reliable to report due to low response rates on this question in some survey locations.

How important is this support?


Finally, we asked respondents how reliant they were on the outside support they received.

Approximately a third of the overall sample (33.5%) indicated that they relied to some extent on this support, though only a small proportion (3.3%) reported being highly reliant.

Urban respondents were signifi cantly more likely to indicate some level of reliance on outside support (41.2%) than rural respondents (29.2%).
As Table 12 illustrates, reliance on outside support varied signifi cantly across survey locations, with half or more of the respondents in Blacksands, 40 Categories of support are non-exclusive (e.g.
some respondents may receive both money and clothes), so Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy row totals may add up to more than 100% [ 43 ] Lamnatu, and Levetlis indicating they relied on outside support to some extent, and less than a fi fth of the respondents in Ngala, Port Narvin, Sola, Umej, and Vetumboso indicating they relied on such support.
Table 12 Proportion of respondents indicating various levels of reliance on outside support – by survey location (%) Survey location Low reliance Moderate reliance High reliance Total with some reliance Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 44 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 4.
Communication preferences Communities differ not only in the channels of communication that are available to them, but also in their preferences for using these different channels.

The survey ﬁ ndings reported in this section show that phones have become a primary mode of communication across the country.

The overwhelming majority of households now have access to a mobile phone, which appears to be the most commonly owned electrical appliance in both urban and rural areas.
However, phones have not completely supplanted face- to-face interaction, which remains a preferred channel for many communication purposes.

Furthermore, although mobile phone penetration in rural areas is high, rural respondents reported using their phones less frequently than urban respondents.

Use of ﬁ xed line phones is low in both urban and rural areas.
Communication within community groups Approximately a third of the survey respondents (34.4%) said they belonged to some form of community group in, or in some cases extending beyond, their local area.

Membership was higher amongst rural respondents (40.8%) than urban respondents (23.9%).

The average membership size of the community groups was 36, but varied widely (s.d.

= 79.6); some groups had as few as two members, and others as many as 1,000.
Some groups were formed around sporting activities, others around supporting the elderly or youth (such as Youth Challenge), and others involved fi nancial support schemes or business ventures (such as The Levetlis Women’s Club in Pentecost, which comprises like-minded women who want to produce mats for sale in Port Vila).

We asked respondents how they communicated within these groups, as well as how group members communicated with any ‘clients’ or customers and with any suppliers.
As shown in Table 13, the most common means of communication was face-to-face, but phones were also frequently used for communication with suppliers.

In urban areas, but not in rural areas, communication within groups also frequently happened via telephone.

There were no signifi cant differences between rural and urban areas in terms of communication with clients or suppliers.
[ 45 ] Table 13 Proportion of respondents belonging to some form of community group who primarily used each channel of communication for different purposes (%)41 Communication channel Communication with suppliers Communication with clients Communication within groups Face-to-face Through local leaders Radio TV Newsletter Phone Internet Letters 43.7 2.1 2.1 0.0 5.9 43.7 1.3 1.3 68.4 11.8 1.5 0.4 1.5 14.3 0.4 1.8 Total 92.3 1.4 0.2 0.2 0.0 5.8 0.0 0.0 Urban Rural 79.8 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 18.2 0.0 0.0 96.2 1.3 0.3 0.3 0.0 1.9 0.0 0.0 Differences between communication channels We also asked respondents how important different modes or channels of communication were in general for them, and which communication channels they tended to use for different purposes.
We summarise the responses to each of these questions below.

Importance of different communication channels Overall, the communication channel rated as ‘very important’ by the greatest proportion of respondents was face-to-face communication (67.8%), followed by communication via phones (57.5%).

The channels most frequently rated as ‘not at all important’ were the internet (34.9%), newsletters (33.8%), and television (30.4%).
However, importance ratings differed signifi cantly between urban and rural residents, as shown in the tables below.

Most notably, rural respondents were more likely than urban respondents to rate written word, image, and technology- based forms of communication (such as advertising, internet, letters, newspapers, radio, television and even telephones) as unimportant, favouring more personal, interactive modes of communication (face-to-face, via local leaders, and through village information centres).
Nevertheless, the majority of residents in both urban (65.6%) and rural (53.0%) areas thought that communication via phone was very important for them.
Table 14 Proportion of urban respondents indicating level of importance of communication modes (%) Mode of communication Advertising Face-to-face Village information centre Internet Through local leaders Letter Newsletter Not at all important Little bit important Important Very important 7.3 2.3 7.8 19.5 6.3 14.3 13.2 19.9 5.4 17.5 20.2 17.4 29.0 24.2 42.9 21.8 41.7 23.8 48.1 36.8 34.0 23.5 70.5 25.9 23.3 26.1 15.7 23.7 41 Categories are non-exclusive (e.g.
some respondents may use each communication channel for communication with suppliers, clients, and groups), so row totals may add to more than 100%.

Radio here refers to a broadcast radio, not a tele-radio (fi eld or two-way radios, which are still used in some provincial government offi ces but are now being phased out).

Broadcast radios are used to pick up AM and FM signals, and may be operated using a power source or dry cell batteries.
Most rural areas do not have good television reception, but may use televisions to watch DVDs and videos.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 46 ] Newspaper Phone Radio TV 3.7 1.4 2.3 3.8 15.0 6.8 11.9 16.7 37.9 25.3 37.2 35.8 41.2 65.6 45.9 40.5 Table 15 Proportion of rural respondents indicating level of importance of communication modes (%) Mode of communication Advertising Face-to-face Village information centre Internet Through local leaders Letter Newsletter Newspaper Phone Radio TV Not at all important Little bit important Important Very important Use of different communication channels Across all respondents, face-to-face communication was the most frequently used mode of communication for most purposes.
The exceptions were for emergencies, when phones were most frequently used (by 56.4% of respondents), and for news and weather information, for which radios were most frequently used (by 60.3% and 65.6% of respondents, respectively).

In addition, approximately equal proportions of respondents used face-to-face communication (24.0%), radios (23.4%), and phones (26.2%) for accessing government services (e.g.

contacting government personnel to obtain information, resources, or services).
However, there were again some signifi cant differences across urban and rural respondents, as shown in the following tables.
Use of the internet was low across all respondents, but appeared to be slightly higher amongst rural respondents for purposes such as banking, access to government services (generally information provided by government departments, particularly surrounding agriculture), and accessing news.42 Urban respondents were more likely than rural respondents to use phones for social and emergency purposes, but were notably less likely to use them for banking, education, and accessing government services, or to get weather information.
Television is also a far more frequently used source of information in urban areas, likely refl ecting better electricity coverage and higher rates of appliance ownership in these areas.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 42 A review of the data by survey location shows that the majority of these rural respondents using the internet were in Isini, but some respondents from Lamnatu, Sola, Lamen Bay, Ngala, and Vetumboso also said they used the internet for some purposes.
Table 16 Proportion of urban respondents using each communication mode as a primary means of communication for various purposes (%)43 Mode of communication Face-to-face Internet Letters Newsletter Newspaper Phones Radio Through local leaders TV i g n k n a b s s e n s u b i 93.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 5.5 0.7 0.0 0.2 51.2 0.3 0.0 0.0 1.5 39.0 6.3 0.3 1.5 s p u o r g y t i n u m m o c 78.2 0.0 1.7 0.2 0.7 10.3 5.3 3.1 0.5 n o i t a c u d e 80.8 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.5 14.4 3.4 0.0 0.2 y c n e g r e m e 8.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.2 69.2 21.2 0.2 0.7 i s e c v r e s .
t v o g s s e c c a 30.0 0.3 10.3 0.8 7.8 21.4 22.7 1.0 5.8 s w e n l i a c o s 1.4 0.2 0.0 0.2 6.8 3.5 52.9 0.0 35.0 59.3 0.0 2.6 0.0 0.0 33.7 0.9 3.3 0.2 Table 17 Proportion of rural respondents using each communication mode as a primary means of communication for various purposes (%) Mode of communication Face-to-face Internet Letters Newsletter Newspaper Phones Radio Through local leaders TV i g n k n a b 80.6 1.4 0.1 0.0 1.6 13.5 2.2 0.4 0.1 s s e n s u b i 55.3 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.0 36.9 2.7 4.3 0.4 s p u o r g y t i n u m m o c 46.4 0.6 3.9 2.1 3.6 12.3 9.6 21.4 0.3 n o i t a c u d e 63.5 0.0 1.9 0.1 0.3 26.8 5.7 1.7 0.0 .
r e h t a e w 2.3 0.9 0.0 0.0 1.9 10.0 72.3 0.0 12.6 r e h t a e w 10.4 0.3 0.0 0.0 1.1 17.8 61.7 8.5 0.3 Communication tools Finally, we also asked respondents which communication ‘tools’ or devices they had access to, and how frequently they used these tools.
As shown in Table 18 below, across all respondents the most readily accessible communication tool was the mobile phone—almost all respondents (91.0%) said they had access to one.

The majority of urban respondents also had access to televisions (57.4%) and radios (61.4%), whereas far fewer rural residents did (3.0% and 24.5%, respectively).

Computer access was also notably higher amongst urban residents (14.0%) than amongst rural respondents (only 3.0%).
However, there were signifi cant differences between survey locations both within and across urban and rural areas—for instance; Chapuis East had much lower rates of access to radios, televisions and computers than did the urban areas in Port Vila.

In contrast, Isini had higher access rates compared to rural areas, and even compared to the urban area of Chapuis East, for most communication tools.
43 Some of these results suggest that respondents were thinking about various communication channels as a source of information provision, rather than two-way communication; for example, TV is an unlikely source of communication for banking, but may be a valid source of information.

[ 47 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 48 ] Access to any form of communication tool appeared to be lowest in Vetumboso and Levetlis.
Table 17 Proportion of respondents in each area with access to different communication tools (%) Computer with internet Survey location Computer Fax Mobile Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL TOTAL 13.7 4.3 27.9 14.0 5.0 3.1 10.6 1.6 – – 1.7 – – 11.1 – 1.6 – 3.0 6.9 6.6 5.1 15.1 7.9 – – 12.1 – – – 1.7 – – 4.8 2.9 – – 1.7 3.9 2.2 – 3.5 1.9 2.5 – 7.6 – – – – – – 9.5 – 3.1 – 2.0 1.9 96.9 98.3 88.4 95.6 85.0 95.4 95.5 82.5 93.9 76.7 81.0 98.2 100.0 96.8 79.4 95.3 68.0 88.4 91.0 Private ﬁ xed line Public ﬁ xed line Radio TV 4.9 3.4 14.0 6.3 32.5 1.5 10.6 4.8 3.1 – 1.7 1.9 – 11.1 50.0 6.3 – 9.0 8.0 11.5 13.7 17.4 13.3 78.8 3.1 21.2 19.1 1.5 – – – 17.5 52.9 1.6 – 15.9 15.0 67.4 78.4 24.8 18.8 74.4 75.6 61.4 57.4 12.5 30.8 53.0 22.2 – 56.7 8.6 37.0 21.3 11.1 11.8 18.8 3.9 20.5 2.5 1.5 16.7 – – – – 1.9 10.6 1.6 2.9 1.6 3.0 35.2 22.6 Refl ecting these different patterns of access, respondents in different areas also signifi cantly differed in the frequencies with which they used different communication tools.
Rates of use for each tool type are shown in the tables below.

Most notably, although the majority of both urban and rural respondents used mobile phones, urban respondents were far more likely to use these on a daily basis, whereas many rural respondents used phones less frequently (ranging from less than once a month to about once a week).

Another point of interest is that the frequency of use for mobile phones was much higher than for fi xed line phones, in both rural and urban areas.
This likely refl ects both the growing convenience, affordability, and familiarity of mobile phones, and the gradual ‘phasing-out’ of public fi xed lines due to high maintenance costs and limited convenience for rural users (who may have to travel some distance to access a pay phone).

These shifts are discussed further in Section 6 of this report.
Table 19 Proportion of urban respondents using different communication tools – by frequencies (%) Communication tool Computer Computer with internet Fax Mobile Private ﬁ xed line Public ﬁ xed lines Radio TV Never Less than once a month One or two times a month Every week Every day NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 49 ] Table 20 Proportion of rural respondents using different communication tools – by frequencies (%)44 Communication tool Never Less than once a month One or two times a month Every week Every day Computer Computer with internet Fax Mobile Private ﬁ xed line Public ﬁ xed lines Radio TV The frequencies of use for each communication tool signifi cantly differ between urban and rural residents for NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU all tools except fax and public fi xed lines, for which the differences are not statistically signifi cant.
Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 50 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU 5.

Complementary infrastructure Survey results indicate that vehicle ownership is low throughout the country, especially in rural areas.

This is likely attributable not only to high purchase costs, but also to the fact that high fuel prices and poor road conditions make vehicles costly to run and maintain.

In rural areas, households are more likely to own boats than cars.
Poor wharf services were reported to be a major inconvenience and source of inefﬁ ciency, limiting the potential gains made through improved communication by phone.

Few rural areas have grid- supplied electricity, and rely on solar cells, batteries and diesel generators.

In such areas, fewer residents are able to charge their mobile phone batteries at home, and ownership of other electrical appliances such as televisions and computers is very limited.
This has negative implications not only for households, but also for clinics, schools, and ofﬁ ces.

Thus, it is perhaps unsurprising that respondents saw improved electricity services as important for education, health, and business.

Means of transport Transportation is essential for moving people and goods around, both within and between islands in Vanuatu.

In some cases it also provides a source of income.


However, as the following survey data shows, vehicle ownership is low in many areas, and can be costly.

What vehicles do households own?

For this study we defi ned ‘vehicle’ as any of the following categories of primary transportation: truck/bus (i.e.

larger vehicle that could be used for transporting people and cargo), bicycle, small truck/car (i.e.

smaller vehicle more suitable for personal or small group use), motorbike, or boat.
The majority of households (86.4%) did not privately own any of the forms of primary transportation asked about in the survey, and only just over 1% owned more than one form.

Boats (owned by 4.9% of the sample), trucks or buses (4.7%), and bicycles (3.7%) were the most commonly owned vehicles.
In addition, a few households (1.9%) owned small trucks or cars, and one reported owning a motorbike.45 Vehicle ownership was slightly but signifi cantly higher in urban areas (18.5% owned a vehicle of some sort, compared to 10.9% in rural areas).

However, rural Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 45 We also asked about tractors, but none of the survey respondents said they owned one.

households were more likely to own boats (6.8%, compared to 1.1% in urban areas).
As Table 21 shows, there was also considerable variation across survey locations, with some areas (such as Atabulu/Atangurua and Levetlis) reporting no forms of household transportation.

Qualitative data collected in these areas suggests that road conditions are very poor, resulting in high vehicle maintenance costs that deter most locals from purchasing their own forms of transport.
Instead, these households may pay for transport from one of a small number of vehicles owned by wealthier villagers, or from shipping service providers in port areas.

In other areas (such as Ngala and Umej), a high proportion of households owned their own boats—refl ecting the coastal location of these villages.

Qualitative data suggests that many households use their boats (which are generally small, outboard motor vessels) to catch fi sh to supplement household food supply.
Boats are also highly important as a form of transportation, as there are no well-formed road links in the rural areas.
Table 21 Proportion of households owning different forms of transport, by survey location (%) Survey location Truck/bus Bicycle Small truck Boat None of the listed forms Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total 7.9 1.8 11.9 7.0 – – 9.1 6.5 21.5 – – – – – – 1.6 – 3.3 4.7 7.4 13.6 4.8 8.4 – – – 3.2 1.5 – – – 4.4 3.2 – – – 0.9 3.7 3.5 3.6 11.8 5.1 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 1.9 1.7 – 1.2 1.1 17.5 – – 6.6 – – 22.8 13.0 – – 29.4 6.3 – 6.8 4.9 82.7 81.8 77.6 81.5 82.5 100.0 90.9 85.2 76.9 100.0 77.2 87.0 95.6 96.8 70.6 92.2 100.0 89.1 86.4 How much do households spend on their vehicles each month?
One of the barriers to vehicle ownership can be the ongoing costs of operation— particularly fuel costs.

To gauge how much of an impact these costs may have, we asked households that owned vehicles how much they spent on fuel each month.

The costs appear to be quite high: the majority of truck or bus owners (50.9%) and boat owners (58.6%) said they spent more than 6,000vt per month on fuel.
Small truck or car owners were also spending signifi cant amounts: 14.3% said they spent between 5,000 and 6,000vt per month, and 47.6% said they spent over 6,000.

This level of expenditure equates to roughly 14% of the mean monthly household income across the sample, and 24% of the median monthly income.
[ 51 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 52 ] QUALITATIVE INSIGHT Roads are key for connecting communities with each other, and with other transport infrastructure Across different sites, many focus group participants said that roads and road transport were important because they extend the services provided via shipping and air, as well as providing direct links between communities.
Roads are very important to mothers.

Having a proper road system means our villages and communities will be better linked with each other.

Our mothers will be able to have easy access to transport and be able to come and sell their products in Sola [the major provincial town].

Teachers will have better access to receive their pay, and businesses will be able to travel more easily to other places.

Roads will also link services to remote villages and make life convenient and easy.
—Female focus group, Sola, Vanua Lava, Torba Province Focus group participants in Levetlis, North Pentecost, were particularly concerned about the poor quality of their roads, and the implications this had for their health, wellbeing, and business opportunities.

There is currently no road network to connect the village with other areas in the district or to the main commercial centre on the island.
As a result, farmers with green kava to sell must climb the hills with heavy bags of their produce to access the shipping anchorage at Melsisi and send kava over to buyers in Vila and Luganville.

Sick people are carried on coconut leaves and walked to Melsisi to access basic health services.

Transport to the airport from Melsisi is 10,000 vatu—nearly as much as the mean monthly income reported by survey participants in the area.
Nevertheless, owning a truck, car, or boat did not appear to be the preserve of wealthier households: approximately 48% of households owning some form of transportation reported monthly household incomes below the median level.

Proportionally more of these lower income households owned boats (61.4% of all boat owners reported a household income lower than 25,000 per month) and proportionally fewer owned trucks or buses (38.2%) and small trucks or cars (27.3%).
This may refl ect the lower average household incomes in rural areas, where transport infrastructure is generally poor, and sea travel is more prevalent.

Roads As shown in Table 22 below, approximately half of the survey locations have compact coral roads, while the remainder had only dirt roads, which can be more prone to washouts and deterioration (thus limiting accessibility) in heavy rains.
Only two of the three urban areas (Blacksands and Freswota 1) and one rural area (Port Olry) have some tar sealed roads.
Table 22 Different road types accessible in each survey location NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Survey location Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Types of roads Compact coral + Tar sealed roads Compact coral roads Compact coral + Tar sealed roads Dirt roads Compact coral roads Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso Compact coral roads Compact coral roads Dirt roads Dirt roads Dirt roads Dirt roads Compact coral, tar sealed and dirt roads Compact coral roads Dirt roads Dirt roads Dirt roads Although poor road quality can be a signifi cant factor in vehicle costs and ‘wear and tear’, there did not appear to be any signifi cant relationship between types of local roads and the forms of transportation that households owned (i.e.
there was no clear pattern of lower vehicle ownership in areas with poor roads).

Shipping The majority of survey locations (nine sites) are served by private shipping lines on a weekly or two-weekly basis, although the actual time and day of arrival can vary according to weather conditions and other disruptions.

Five sites (Anelghowhat, Levetlis, Port Narvin, Umej, and Vetumboso) are served by ships only about once per month.
Participants in a focus group in Levetlis said that they sometimes go three months without a ship stopping by.

Neither Lamnatu nor Port Olry have any direct shipping services to their neighbourhood, but residents in these areas are able to travel by vehicle to Lenakel or Luganville, respectively, to access ports.

Relatively few respondents (122) reported expenditure on shipping for export to external (international) markets.
Of those that did, the majority (57.4%) spent more than 3,000vt per month on these services.

More common uses of shipping services were for distribution of goods to domestic markets (618 respondents indicated expenditure on shipping for this purpose) and for travel between islands (907 respondents).

The majority (64.1%) of respondents shipping to domestic markets said they spent less than 2,000vt per month.
In contrast, the majority (78.0%) of respondents using ships to travel said they spent more than 5,000vt per month, indicating the relative importance of ships as a mode of personal transportation.

Reported expenditure levels varied slightly but signifi cantly between urban and rural areas and between survey locations for all shipping purposes, with urban respondents generally indicating higher expenditure levels.

Differences in reported travel expenditure are shown in Table 23 below.
As can be seen, expenditure on travel by ship appeared to be highest for respondents in Blacksands, Levetlis, Umej, Port Narvin and Lamen Bay, where most households estimated their monthly expenditure on ship travel to be over 5,000 or 6,000 vatu.

In contrast, in Port Olry respondents reported low levels of expenditure on travel by ship.
[ 53 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 54 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Table 23 Proportion of respondents reporting levels of monthly expenditure on shipping for personal transport (%) Survey location <1,000vt 1,000-2,000vt 2,000-3,000vt 3,000-4,000vt 5,000-6,000vt >6,000vt Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Urban Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total 0.9 – 8.6 2.3 – 21.3 2.3 1.5 6.3 1.9 6.7 – – 10.0 1.7 – – 1.5 3.6 3.1 0.5 8.5 2.5 2.8 2.8 6.6 2.8 3.0 1.6 1.9 3.3 – – 70.0 3.4 3.8 1.6 3.0 3.6 3.3 1.4 20.2 4.9 6.6 – – 6.6 4.5 1.6 1.9 – – – – – – 3.2 3.0 1.3 3.3 3.2 22.3 3.7 7.9 7.0 13.1 7.9 9.1 6.3 3.7 3.3 32.8 4.3 – 17.2 – 1.6 11.9 9.8 9.1 20.4 28.7 25.9 23.5 18.3 23.0 23.5 30.3 77.8 44.4 6.7 62.1 61.7 – 31.0 – 76.2 11.9 38.7 33.1 62.0 13.8 48.1 47.6 42.3 29.5 47.6 42.4 4.8 27.8 66.7 1.7 29.8 – 19.0 61.5 17.5 1.5 24.9 33.2 Whether or not regularly using boats or paying for shipping services, most respondents thought that shipping services were either important or very important for business (83.4%), health (66.9%), and education (81.2%).
Very few indicated that shipping was ‘not at all important’ (6.7% for business, 12.6% for health, and 5.4% for education).

QUALITATIVE INSIGHT Rural residents see shipping as an economic lifeline In the focus groups and interviews, participants described all forms of transport (motor vehicles, motor bikes, bicycles, ships and boats) as important.
However, rural residents involved in inter-island business said that shipping was the most important form of transport and was a ‘lifeline’ for them, regardless of its downsides.

Shipping brings money to the community.

When people cut copra, they sell to ships that come in.

The money they get enables people to pay for school fees or buy things like clothes and mobile phones if they want to communicate with other people.

Shipping is an important [form of] transport.


—Male focus group, Vetumboso, Vanua Lava, Torba Province However, there were some signifi cant differences in views between survey areas, as shown in Table 24.
In particular, most residents in Port Orly thought shipping services were relatively unimportant for business, health, and education (again consistent with the fact that this area does not have a port within easy reach), whereas those in Sola thought these services were very important in all three respects.

Overall, shipping appears to be very important for business across both urban and rural areas.
Nevertheless, it is of relatively more importance for education and health in rural areas than in urban areas, likely because many people in rural areas need to travel (by ship) to other islands to access good healthcare and education.

In urban areas, responses indicating that shipping is important for these services may refl ect respondent views that shipping is a general ‘lifeline’.
QUALITATIVE INSIGHT Value of shipping diminished by poor wharf services Several focus group and interview participants said they thought that wharf infrastructure needs to be improved.

In particular, they would like to see construction of better wharves for ship anchorage overnight, more equipment for loading and unloading goods, and cargo storage facilities.
Currently, they felt that the value of shipping services was being diminished by problems such as theft and damage to cargo, additional costs, and inconvenience.

When ships arrive at unscheduled times or are delayed without warning villagers, businesses, and government ofﬁ cials may be unaware, unprepared, or unavailable at the bay.
If people are unable to immediately arrange a vehicle or some form of assistance to collect the cargo, items are sometimes stolen or dropped off at other islands, from where they must be retrieved at considerable expense.

Where there is no road that connects to the bay in which ships anchor (e.g.

in Sola, Levetlis, and Vetumboso), strenuous and costly labour is needed to transport the cargo to its destination (for example, to carry building materials, such as cement bags).
This is an isolated area…after the ship drops our cargo at the bay, we pay extra, about 100vt per carton box, to villagers to assist in taking items from the bay up to the village.

The same happens for materials for building our clinic and school.

At the retail level, some of our customers complain about the price of our food items, but as an owner, I see the price as just enough if I want to make a modest profi t from the items after paying for their transport.
—Business representative, Female Focus Group, Vetumboso In Levetlis, both male and female participants reported carrying heavy kava bags up hills to get to central Pentecost to access shipping services to Luganville and Port Vila.

Sick patients and some pregnant women are carried on woven coconut leaves and walked to Melsisi, which takes about six to seven hours on a dirt road.

In other areas, participants also reported carrying other crops great distances to wharves.
We really need good shipping facilities like wharves and storage facilities …When we cut copra, we have to carry bags of it on our shoulders down to the bay for the ship to load.

We also carry our cargo up to the villages the same way… This makes our life very hard.
—NGO representative, Female Focus Group, Vetumboso For coastal lying villages like Umej, Anelghowhat, Ngala, Lamen Bay, Port Narvin, Sola and Williams Bay, small private boats are used to carry materials between villages—but at a very high price.

Some participants said the costs were often in the order of 8,000vt to travel between Anelghowhat and Umej, 40,000vt to travel between Sola and Vetumboso, and 60,000vt to travel between Port Narvin and Williams Bay.
[ 55 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 56 ] Table 24 Importance of shipping services for different purposes – by survey location (%)46 Importance—business w o Importance—health w o y r e v Importance—education e c n a t r o p m / / t n a t r o p m y r e v t n a t r o p m i I 88.0 70.1 92.9 84.0 93.8 76.9 95.4 87.1 80.0 86.2 69.6 90.8 36.9 88.8 91.2 98.4 85.9 84.1 84.1 e c n a t r o p m l r o o N i 12.0 24.8 7.2 14.6 5.0 20.0 4.5 12.9 15.3 13.8 14.3 9.3 63.0 11.1 5.8 1.6 14.1 13.8 14.0 / t n a t r o p m y r e v t n a t r o p m i I i 16.9 20.7 9.5 16.5 10.3 20.0 1.5 1.6 40.7 13.4 14.3 22.3 60.8 6.3 17.6 10.9 16.7 17.3 17.0 Survey location Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total Electricity infrastructure service that can Reliable electricity supply complement or hinder the growth of telecommunications and internet.
Accordingly, we asked respondents a number of questions relating to their use of electricity.

Their responses are summarised below.

is another key What sources of electricity do households have access to?

Grid electricity supply is still limited to a few urban areas in Vanuatu, resulting in signifi cant electricity access differences across the areas included in the survey.
As illustrated in Table 25, the majority of urban households had access to power supplied through the grid (from a UNELCO power station), whereas only two rural locations had access to this source (Isini and Port Olry).

However, even within these areas there does not appear to be universal coverage of supply—some urban households, for instance, said they relied on solar power, batteries, or generators, or had no power at all.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 46 Respondents were asked to select from the following responses: very important, important, a little bit important, not at all important, and no response/no opinion.

Because this table does not report the small proportion of ‘no opinion’ answers, adjacent columns for each domain (business, health, and education) do not necessarily add to 100%.
[ 57 ] Table 25 Proportion of respondents using various sources of electricity supply, by location (%)47 Survey location Solar Generator Power station Battery None Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total 3.8 0.9 – 2.2 52.0 18.4 3.0 58.7 27.7 – 13.8 81.4 – 34.9 38.2 84.5 15.4 34.3 22.8 2.6 0.9 1.2 1.9 24.1 16.9 – 20.6 3.1 3.3 8.6 14.8 8.5 52.4 17.6 7.9 3.9 14.4 9.9 71.2 90.6 96.5 81.5 – – 86.4 1.6 – – 1.7 – 89.4 – – – – 13.2 37.8 5.2 0.9 21.2 7.1 8.9 – 3.0 6.4 9.2 – 8.6 37.0 – 55.5 – 34.4 71.8 20.5 15.8 22.5 6.8 2.4 14.2 32.9 66.2 7.6 23.8 60.0 96.7 67.2 11.1 2.1 3.2 47.1 10.9 20.5 31.9 25.5 Relative to urban areas, rural areas had a much higher rate of use of solar power (34.3% on average), although this varied across locations.
For instance, none of the households in Levetlis reported access to solar power, and very few (3.3%) had access to any form of electricity.

Access levels also appear to be low in Atabulu/Atangurua (where 66.2% of households reported having no electricity), Ngala (67.2%), and Lamnatu (60.0%).

We also asked whether they relied on each source of electricity ‘most of the time’ or only ‘sometimes’.
As the majority of the sample (88.1%) listed only one source of electricity, this was the source they used most of the time.

The most common combination (reported by 4.6% of the sample) was solar power with batteries, followed by solar power and generators (2.4%), grid supply with batteries (2.1%), and generators with batteries (1.3%).
Despite these patterns of supply supplementation, many people reported using batteries as a primary source of power: of those who said they sourced power from batteries, the majority (66.8%) said they used these ‘most of the time’.

In contrast, of those who accessed power from generators, the majority (62.9%) used them only sometimes, likely because of the high cost of fuel, and because the generators served only as a back-up supply.

What types of electric appliances do households have?
As shown in Table 26, appliance ownership differed signifi cantly across survey locations.

In general, many more respondents in urban areas owned electric appliances such as televisions, radios, computers, and fridges than did those in rural areas.

The one exception was mobile phones, which the majority of all 47 One respondent in Blacksands and one in Freswota 1 said they had access to wind-generated power, but as most areas did not cite this source, we have omitted it from the table.
Respondents were able to select more than one power source, so rows may add up to more than 100%.

Across the entire sample, 11.9% of respondents listed more than one power source.

In some cases, it appears that respondents may have been confused about the power sources being referred to; there is no mains power, for example, in Lamen Bay or Ngala.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 58 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy QUALITATIVE INSIGHT High electricity costs a barrier for many The majority of focus group participants in rural areas said that because they did not have electricity, they use dry-cell battery-operated torches, small solar lanterns, and candles to provide light in the evenings.
Generators were seen as a luxury item because of the initial purchase cost and ongoing fuel costs.

Accordingly, several participants said that only wealthier individuals, businesses, government ofﬁ cers and churches tended to own and operate generators.

Participants in Sola and Middle Bush said they used to have a small community generator to power shared facilities, but the generator had ceased operating due to technical failures and lack of expertise and ﬁ nancial resources to keep it going.
Solar panels were seen by participants as a more affordable alternative as their main costs were one-off and up-front.

In urban Efate, many participants complained that although their electricity supply from UNELCO was good, it was costly.

For example, participants from Freshwota 1 reported that electricity bills, which are in the range of 5,000 to 10,000vt per month, are the most costly item of household expenditure.

Electricity is in every house.

Service is good.

But cost is a big problem.


The bill comes at the end of every month and is expensive, whereas the water bill comes at end of every three months but is still affordable.

For example, in my home the electricity bill is usually about 7,000-10,000vt a month.

The amount depends on the number of electrical items we have been using and also the number of people.

But I think this is still too much to pay in a month.
—Household representative, Female focus group, Freshwota 1 In Santo, participants complained that recent change in service providers has not led to reduced prices.

The new company promised a cheaper rate to that of UNELCO but this is not happening.

Instead it is much, much more expensive compared to UNELCO bills.

There are a lot of things that we must pay like property tax, land lease, water bills, school fees, loans and then high electricity.

A lot of us cannot afford to pay all these.


—NGO/Community/Church representative, Female Focus Group, Chapuis East households possess, regardless of their location.

These appliance ownership trends highlight the signifi cant penetration of mobile telephony throughout Vanuatu, and the contrasting lag in other means of communication.
The very limited ownership of computers outside urban areas, in particular, may act as a constraint on the proliferation of internet services, unless more affordable (and likely shared) points of access are developed.
Table 26 Types of electric appliances that households own – by survey location (%)48 Fixed line phone (TVL) Radio Computer Survey location Fridge TV Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total 61.1 83.2 86.1 72.2 23.7 6.9 31.1 3.6 3.8 – – 3.2 1.8 1.9 – 4.0 – – 3.2 – – – 1.9 7.1 19.8 36.3 58.2 32.1 – 2.3 9.8 7.2 – – 4.0 2.0 2.2 4.9 – 5.0 – 3.3 14.9 2.3 2.7 8.1 3.6 – – 1.6 – – – 4.0 – – 1.6 – 1.7 – 0.7 1.9 [ 59 ] Mobile phone 96.3 100.0 95.5 97.0 97.3 90.9 93.4 89.1 100.0 92.0 96.0 89.7 100.0 91.7 96.4 95.1 92.2 94.4 95.5 QUALITATIVE INSIGHT Electrical appliances seen as key for community development Many focus group participants mentioned that they thought electricity was essential for enabling the use of a number of important household appliances, including mobile phones (which need recharging), TVs, DVDs, stereos, and fridges.
Male focus group participants in Tanna commented that electricity would help students to be able to watch good programs on TV and use light to study at night in their homes and at school.

Additionally, participants thought that increased electricity access and affordability could help improve critical health and education services by enabling greater use of computers, faxes, photocopiers, printers, and refrigerators at schools and clinics.

Electricity is needed in our clinic.


The reason is that we have vaccines that need to be stored in cool temperatures.

Because there is no electricity to refrigerate these vaccines, many people must travel to Sola or Santo to get them… Electricity would help a lot in the schools and clinic.

After meeting these two priorities, we can then move on to think about getting electricity in other places, like people’s homes.
—NGO representative, Female focus group, Vetumboso Participants also saw the potential for electricity to assist in economic development.

In Levetlis, male focus group participants thought that a reliable electricity supply would enhance weaving productivity in the area, leading to economic gains.

In Tanna, male focus group participants thought that improved electricity supplies would open doors to many more businesses.
For instance, the shops could sell frozen goods like chicken wings/drumsticks and ice creams.

48 Respondents could select as many appliances as applicable, so row totals may add to more than 100%.

Across the whole sample, the majority of respondents said they owned at least two appliances (50.8%), but the proportion of households with multiple appliances was much higher in urban areas (81.3%) than in rural areas (30.6%).
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 60 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy How much do households spend on electricity?

As may be expected given the different sources of electricity available, and different types of electric appliances owned, household electricity expenditure also differed signifi cantly across survey locations.
For instance, most households in rural areas said they spent less than 2,000vt per month on electricity (59.5%), or were unable to say how much they spent (40.5%).

In contrast, the majority of urban respondents were able to estimate their monthly expenditure (91.7%).

Most urban respondents spent between 1,000 and 3,000vt per month (50.9%) on electricity.

However, a sizeable proportion spent over 6,000vt per month.
These higher rates of electricity expenditure—especially in Blacksands and Freswota 1— likely refl ect the greater availability and use of a reliable, grid-sourced electricity supply in these areas, and greater numbers of appliances owned.
Table 27 Proportion of households reporting monthly electricity expenditure levels – by location (%) Survey location <1,000vt 1,000- 2,000vt 2,000- 3,000vt 3,000- 4,000vt 4,000- 6,000vt >6,000vt Unable/ unwilling to say Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total 6.5 15.7 2.4 8.3 11.8 40.0 1.7 48.8 19.2 – – – – 6.3 6.5 10.7 7.7 7.7 – 8.9 15.9 10.7 9.3 11.9 10.6 2.9 – 30.0 2.3 – – 6.3 4.2 2.2 8.9 – 1.9 – 6.3 8.2 6.5 3.7 16.7 8.1 5.9 10.0 8.3 4.7 – – – 2.1 – 7.1 23.1 1.9 1.7 4.4 6.0 19.6 7.4 31.0 18.6 14.7 – 10.0 7.0 7.7 – – 6.3 2.2 5.4 7.7 9.6 – 6.1 11.5 6.5 15.7 2.4 8.3 11.8 40.0 1.7 48.8 19.2 – 56.3 58.3 60.9 32.1 23.1 59.6 61.0 40.5 26.6 How important is electricity?
As with shipping services, we asked respondents how important they thought electricity was for business, health, and education.

Across the sample, the majority of households thought that electricity was important or very important in all three domains.

However, there were some modest but signifi cant differences across survey locations.

In particular, urban respondents were more likely (90.7%) than rural respondents (79.4%) to view electricity access as important or very important for business purposes.
QUALITATIVE INSIGHT People may have access, but it is not necessarily reliable… Participants in focus groups in a most areas (Lenakel, Middle Bush, Anelghowhat, Umej, Ngala, Port Olry, Sola, Vetumboso, Atangura/Atabulu, Unpongkor, Port Narvin and Levetlis) reported dissatisfaction with coverage or reliability.

Several group participants reported that their mobile coverage was only really reliable within the vicinity of a mobile transmission tower.
Many said they had to walk for some distance, or move around their village a lot, in order to ﬁ nd sufﬁ cient coverage to make a call.

Some participants in Umej and Anelghowhat said they sometimes had to take a canoe a little way out to sea to ﬁ nd a reliable spot to from which to call.

In Vetumboso, Atangura/Atabulu, and Levetlis, participants said that although many people owned phones, problems with coverage were greatly limiting their usefulness.
We don’t have Digicel right at home so we have to walk a long way every time we want to make a call.

But when Digicel fi rst launched its service in Sola in 2010 many people from this village bought Digicel phones because it was cheap, so parents and their children and many young people now have phones.

—Male focus group, Vetumboso Participants also perceived there to be differences in the reliability and coverage of the two service providers.
For example, in places like Lenakel, Middle Bush and Sola, where both providers operate, participants in both male and female focus groups said although Digicel had wider network coverage than TVL, its service was often unreliable.

Such concerns were also reﬂ ected in 14 of the 31 small to medium business interviews, which indicated that problems with both TVL and Digicel services were posing a constraint to business development.
I use mostly mobile to communicate for this small business… However, mobile communication is still unreliable and inconsistent… Digicel stopped working for many months and many people switched to TVL.

I have two SIM cards and used to use both, but now I mostly only use TVL when Digicel stopped working.
—Small business owner, Sola I use mobile for all my communication needs and it is the only way of communicating with my suppliers…despite the lack of better network coverage in the area and the fact that I need to climb uphill to access the network…to make the necessary calls so that my retail store cargo arrives in the next shipment or fl ight … If network coverage could be improved in the area, the hassle of going up and downhill would be removed.
—Small-medium business owner, Port Narvin Although few participants discussed the perceived causes of reliability issues, several focus group members in Atangura/Atabulu and Chapuis East mentioned natural weather events (like hurricanes) as a contributing factor.

Participants in Vetumboso said they had experienced a long disruption to the Digicel network due to fuel shortages and a delay in the shipment of fuel drums to Sola to operate the central satellite tower.
Such problems are exacerbated by the infrequency of shipping services to their area.
[ 61 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 62 ] Table 28 Importance of electricity services for different purposes – by location (%)49 Importance—business w o Importance—health w o y r e v Importance—education e c n a t r o p m / Survey location Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total / t n a t r o p m y r e v t n a t r o p m i I 91.2 86.2 95.4 90.7 69.5 78.1 95.3 86.7 75.0 89.6 70.2 78.4 97.9 81.9 71.0 93.4 50.8 79.4 83.6 e c n a t r o p m l r o o N i 8.8 9.2 4.7 8.0 17.4 20.3 1.6 13.4 8.9 10.3 12.3 21.6 – 18.0 13.0 4.9 41.2 14.6 12.1 / t n a t r o p m y r e v t n a t r o p m i I – 16.4 3.2 8.0 18.8 11.4 11.8 91.6 95.4 97.7 93.9 82.3 89.1 96.9 98.4 76.8 86.7 89.4 88.2 97.9 93.5 77.4 96.7 90.6 90.1 91.5 i 8.4 2.7 2.3 5.7 5.9 11.0 – 1.6 16.1 13.3 10.5 11.8 – 6.6 9.7 3.2 7.9 7.1 6.6 NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 49 Respondents were asked to select from the following responses: very important, important, a little bit important, not at all important, and no response/no opinion.
Because this table does not report the small proportion of ‘no opinion’ answers, adjacent columns for each domain (business, health, and education) do not necessarily add to 100%.

6.

Telephones The largest section of our survey focussed on telephone access, ownership, use, and impacts.

Although we focussed on both ﬁ xed and mobile telephones, it is evident that the latter are far more prevalent and important for people throughout Vanuatu.

Four out of ﬁ ve survey respondents owned a mobile phone.
Most people view the impacts of increased telephone access in their areas as having been broadly positive, although important social concerns remain.

Below, we discuss these results, and how they vary across survey locations, in more detail.

Phone access and ownership Most survey areas had both fi xed and mobile coverage, as shown in Table 29.
However, the majority (99.4%) of survey respondents said their household had regular access only to a mobile phone, while just a small number had a private fi xed line (4.1%).

Nevertheless, as shown in the table, only a small proportion of households said they travelled to use a fi xed line telephone, often walking more than a kilometre to do so.
Unsurprisingly, given the high rate of mobile phone ownership, very few people (1.8%) said they travelled to obtain access to a mobile phone (although in some areas, particularly Vetumboso, residents need to travel to actually use the phones that they own due to the limited mobile phone coverage on the island).

The average (median) household owned two phones, with the majority (78.8%) owning between one and four.
Most households had fi rst obtained a mobile phone more than two years ago (56.4%), with only a small proportion (8.6%) having obtained a mobile phone for the fi rst time in the past year.

A small number of respondents said their household did not own any phones (7.0%).

When we asked respondents if they personally owned a mobile phone, the majority (80.7%) said yes.
Most had bought their phones themselves (82.6%), and the remainder had been given phones by their families (or, in fi ve cases, by their workplace).
The average reported phone purchase cost was 4,662 vatu, although there was substantial variation in this price (ranging from 100 to 100,000 vatu, around a median of 2,500 vatu), likely refl ecting variation in place and time of purchase and in phone capabilities (for instance, phones are often available for low prices when bought as part of a phone service provider deal, but these tend to be very simple models; models with internet capability are far more expensive).
Of those respondents who did not own a mobile, approximately half (55.0%) said they borrowed one (for free) to use when necessary, while the remainder said they simply did not use a mobile.
[ 63 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 64 ] Table 28 Telephone access and ownership – by location (%)50 Survey location Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL High F High F High F – Medium High M High F High M High M High M High M None Medium High M Medium High F Low – – 3.1 Walk < 1km 100.0 100.0 1.2 Walk < 1km 100.0 100.0 1.9 – – 1.3 96.3 Next door 3.1 Walk > 1km 100.0 3.0 Walk < 1km 98.4 1.6 Walk < 1km 100.0 100.0 – – 100.0 – – 37.9 98.1 Next door 98.2 Walk > 1km 100.0 100.0 100.0 97.1 100.0 98.6 99.1 – – Next door Next door 85.9 Walk > 1km – 20.6 – – 11.8 9.4 2.2 – 5.8 2.3 30.0 – 1.5 – – – – – – – 14.7 1.6 – Total – 13.87 – 99.4 Personal phone ownership was signifi cantly lower among respondents without any formal education (only 50% of whom had their own phone), and among respondents over the age of 50 (62% of whom had their own phones).
In addition, as shown in Table 30, urban respondents were more likely to own a mobile than rural respondents, with some small but signifi cant differences between survey locations.

Although Nokia phones were the most prevalent brand across the sample, this varied across survey locations—for instance, in Vetumboso Motorola was the most frequently owned brand, and in Anelghowhat and Umej the majority of respondents owned phones with other brands.
Of these ‘other’ brands, the most frequently cited across the sample were Alcatel and Coral.

A few people also owned LG and ZTE branded phones.

These differences between areas may refl ect different promotions run by suppliers, or deals offered by the mobile service providers for new users.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 50 High F = Two mobile service providers operating, one offering fi xed lines; High M = Two mobile service providers operating; Medium = One service provider operating; Low = One mobile service provider operating with poor coverage; None = no service coverage.
It is likely that respondents in Vetumboso were referring to mobile phones, not landlines: Vetumboso does not have any fi xed line services, and there is no mobile phone coverage in the village.

Residents must walk some distance to obtain Digicel mobile phone reception.
Table 30 Ownership of various phone brands – by location (%) Survey location Respondents owning mobiles Phone owners with… Nokia Samsung Motorola Other Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total – 23.8 7.0 17.4 2.1 18.2 7.4 4.8 9.8 23.0 – 5.2 44.9 12.7 10.5 8.9 16.2 8.0 10.8 8.6 – 18.6 4.3 6.3 – 14.8 9.5 12.2 4.9 – 6.9 2.0 7.0 8.5 24.0 18.9 28.0 23.3 82.9 28.6 14.0 15.2 10.4 13.6 11.1 9.5 4.9 24.6 62.5 29.3 12.2 26.7 25.3 Use of different mobile service providers also signifi cantly differed across survey locations, as shown in Table 31.
While the majority of respondents across all areas used Digicel, respondents in Anelghowhat and Umej used only TVL (as noted at the beginning of this section, Digicel services are not currently available in these areas), and a reasonable proportion of respondents used both providers (11.3%).
Table 31 Use of mobile service providers – by location (%) Survey location Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total Digicel 64.9 68.2 57.3 64.4 – 66.7 59.1 89.4 95.7 81.8 92.3 85.7 100.0 41.0 – 77.6 77.1 64.0 64.2 TVL 23.6 23.6 20.0 22.9 100.0 4.8 27.3 6.4 4.3 13.6 7.7 4.8 – 27.9 100.0 6.9 10.4 25.7 24.6 Both 11.5 8.2 22.7 12.8 – 28.6 13.6 4.3 – 4.5 – 9.5 – 31.1 – 15.5 12.5 10.3 11.3 [ 65 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 66 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Phone uses To fi nd out how respondents were using their mobiles, we asked how frequently they performed a variety of different functions on their phones.
As shown in Table 32, respondents most frequently used their phones to make or receive a call.

Other frequent uses included calling someone back, sending an SMS, giving a ‘missed call’ or sending a message to get the recipient to call back, and using the phone as a torch.

When asked to explain what other functions they used their phone for (i.e.

when they used it for ‘something else’), the use respondents cited most frequently (27.9%) was games.
Other less frequent phone uses were for checking the time or date, as a camera or video, as a calculator, and as an alarm.

Urban respondents were signifi cantly more likely than rural respondents to use their mobile phones for calling someone back (93.7% vs. 81.0%), sending ‘please call me’ messages (75.8% vs. 64.0%), playing music or the radio (69.5% vs. 44.9%), sending an SMS (88.9% vs. 79.7%), or ‘something else’ (71.1% vs. 59.6%).
This may suggest changing patterns in mobile phone use; in previous years we identifi ed that rural respondents were high users of the ‘please call back’ service, resulting in a form of income transfer when their wealthier urban families paid to return the calls.

It may be the case that these transfers are now happening within urban areas as well, and that rural users are spending more on initiating calls themselves.
However, as noted later in this section, rural users still appear to spend less on their phones than do urban users.
Table 32 Popular ways of using mobile phones (%)51 Use Make call Receive call Call back Send SMS Give missed call Torch Send please call message Play radio/music Something else Access internet A lot 33.5 31.7 16.0 36.2 14.2 41.3 16.2 22.7 18.2 2.2 Sometimes 45.3 46.0 52.4 30.0 44.6 13.1 37.4 20.1 13.8 2.5 Total 78.8 77.7 68.4 66.2 58.8 54.4 53.6 42.8 32.0 4.7 Phone battery charging Many respondents charge their phones at home, and do not pay others, or request payments from others, to have a battery charged.
However, there are distinct differences in charging patterns across urban and rural locations.

Where do people charge their phone batteries?

As shown in Table 33, the majority (80.5%) of urban respondents charge their phones at their own homes, and many also have the opportunity to charge them at their workplaces (12.6%).
In contrast, less than half of rural respondents (40.2%) said they charged their phones at home, with nearly as many going to other people in their area to request a charge, either for a fee (20.6%) or for free (17.5%).

Very 51 This ‘please call me’ service is only offered by Digicel.

Several focus group participants commended Digicel for having this feature, as they found it useful and economical.
It enables users to send a cost-free message to another number, so that the recipient of the message will bear the cost of getting in contact (i.e.

by calling the message-sender back) [ 67 ] few respondents appear to be using vehicles, community power sources, or Digicel towers for battery charging.
Table 33 Proportion of respondents charging phone batteries at various locations (%) Location Home Other people for a fee/payment Other people for free Work Government ofﬁ ce for free Community power source for a fee/payment Community power source for free Digicel tower for free In vehicle Urban 80.47 5.12 5.81 12.56 – – 0.23 0.7 0.23 Rural 40.16 20.6 17.47 3.0 1.43 1.3 0.78 0.52 0.39 Total 54.64 15.04 13.28 6.43 0.92 0.84 0.58 0.58 0.33 Refl ecting the differences in available and preferred phone charging locations shown in Table 33, there were signifi cant differences in the distances respondents from different survey locations routinely travelled to charge their phone batteries.
As indicated in Table 34, the majority of urban residents said they did not need to travel at all, whereas nearly half of rural respondents (47%) were travelling some distance to charge their phones—in a few cases walking more than a kilometre (especially notable in Levetlis, which is remote and has limited electricity access; in such areas, people may walk to the houses of others who have generators or other reliable power sources, and pay to charge phones).
It may be the case that this proportion is understated, however, given that in many rural areas few households would have their own, reliable power source.
Table 34 Proportion of respondents travelling varying distances to charge phone batteries (%) Survey location Don’t travel Next door Few houses away Walk <1km Walk >1km Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total – 16.7 16.0 39.7 40.0 25.5 17.6 9.9 – – 5.2 12.7 11.8 4.0 1.9 13.7 22.7 25.8 4.3 – 8.3 8.0 12.1 38.0 11.9 9.2 1.4 – – 0.7 5.6 3.9 – 3.8 33.3 9.1 6.5 4.3 – 8.3 8.0 5.2 4.0 7.0 4.5 0.5 – – 0.2 5.6 2.0 – 1.9 2.0 13.6 3.2 2.2 – – 8.0 – 2.0 2.5 1.6 How much do people get paid or pay to charge phone batteries?
Although the majority of respondents do not pay or request payment for charging phone batteries (particularly in urban areas), in rural areas there appear to be NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 68 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy many commercial exchanges involving phone charging.
Respondent responses suggest the ‘going rate’ in several locations (e.g.

Anelghowhat, Levetlis, Umej, and Vetumboso) is 100vt per charge, although some people pay less.

In other locations, the going rate is less than 100vt (Atabulu/Atangurua, Lamnatu, and Unpongkor).

Very few people paid more than 100vt for a charge (approximately 1% across the full sample).
Table 35 Proportion of respondents being paid or paying to charge phone batteries (%) Survey location Pay <100vt per charge Pay >100vt per charge Don’t pay to charge Get paid <100vt per charge Get paid >100vt per charge Offer charge for free Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total 7.5 6.1 – 5.6 8.0 52.9 4.8 – 59.6 4.5 – 13.0 – 5.0 3.3 38.3 2.0 16.4 12.2 3.8 0.9 – 2.2 42.7 3.9 8.0 – 8.8 95.4 6.9 21.7 – 1.7 23.3 5.0 70.6 19.4 12.6 88.8 93.0 100.0 92.2 49.3 43.1 87.1 100.0 31.6 – 93.1 65.2 100.0 93.3 73.3 56.7 27.5 64.2 75.1 6.0 3.5 – 4.0 14.3 16.7 6.5 9.3 29.0 33.3 9.1 12.5 2.2 – 5.0 23.9 5.6 11.2 7.8 2.7 0.9 – 1.6 35.7 – 1.6 4.7 3.2 – 13.6 3.1 – – 30.0 – 50.0 8.8 5.4 75.0 43.0 83.8 67.2 14.3 37.5 38.7 72.1 12.9 33.3 54.5 43.8 53.3 63.4 5.0 45.7 – 40.3 52.9 We also asked respondents to estimate how much they spent on charging their phone batteries in a month, considering the average number of times they would need to re-charge the battery and the cost per charge.
Of respondents who did QUALITATIVE INSIGHT People willing to pay, but still think mobiles are expensive Participants in 14 of the 31 focus groups and 21 of the 31 semi-structured interviews indicated that the cost of phones (including the cost of charging phone batteries) was an important consideration for them.

The majority of both males and females said that they thought mobile phones were costly, for both business and personal use.
Many comments were focussed on the value-for-money provided by prepaid phone cards.

For instance, participants expressed dissatisfaction about the limited call time that phone cards offered (e.g.

only a few minutes for 200 vatu), and the cost of charging their phone batteries.

In Levetlis (Pentecost), Sola, and Vetumboso (Vanua Lava), a proﬁ t margin of 50vt is added by vendors to the TVL and Digicel market prices for prepaid cards.
In addition, because many people in these areas do not have their own source of electricity, they must pay fees ranging from 50 to 100vt to charge their phone batteries.

The cost of telecommunications is too high.

Previously refi ll cards were selling at 250vt and 260vt.

Sometimes people don’t use their mobiles as they have not got suffi cient funds to purchase a credit refi ll.

They say they will use their phones more often if costs are reduced.
—Female focus group, Levetlis People are spending more on [phone] credit refi ll cards than on food.

In some homes you will fi nd families eating dry food like tapioca [cassava] because they have spent all their money on phone credit.

Not only the parents but also the children own mobile phones.

So in one household you may fi nd every member with a mobile phone.
—Household representative, Female focus groups, Chapuis East A number of participants also reported cost differences between services offered by Digicel and TVL.

Some focus group participants (in Lenakel, Middle Bush, Anelghowhat, Freshwota 1, and Chapuis East) thought that calls from Digicel numbers to Digicel numbers and from Digicel to TVL numbers were considerably more expensive than calls from TVL numbers to Digicel numbers or TVL to TVL numbers.
In Levetlis, male focus group participants commented that although TVL seemed to be cheaper, (credit does not run out so quickly), Digicel had service all around the island (except for some remote places), and thus was preferred as a ‘more reliable’ service provider.

Some people like me prefer TVL to Digicel because TVL credits are cheaper.
TVL sells 100vt credit and Digicel doesn’t… However, calling TVL to Digicel is cheaper than calling Digicel to TVL and TVL credits are better, they last longer than Digicel’s… Phone credit refi ll cards are too expensive for people without paid jobs… I pay around 1,000vt per day on credits if I want to make an important call.
— NGO and Business representative, Female focus group, Chapuis East In areas such as Vetumboso, Anelghowhat, Umej, and Port Olry, where there is only one service provider, participants thought that costs were higher for them due to limited service competition.

Several participants also mentioned that they thought ﬁ xed lines were the least expensive option, and that they would like greater access to these lines from TVL (both private lines, and public phones in villages).
In some places, participants said that their village phones had been removed, and that the number of TVL ﬁ xed lines had decreased with the advent of mobile communications.

Telecommunication is costly but I still use it because mobile is now a common source of communication, and the government wants us to use it.

There are no TVL fi xed landlines these days.

Also, even Digicel is unreliable – its network coverage/reception is currently down.
It’s expensive, but I still use it for my business to call to a customer or agent that uses Digicel.

But otherwise I still use my TVL to call Digicel numbers.

If both cost and reliability were improved this would increase calls made to both Digicel and TVL phones.
—Small business owner, Male semi-structured interview, Sola However, eight business owners (in Anelghowhat, Umej, Chapuis East, Port Olry, Port Narvin, Unpongkor, and Atangurua/Atabulu) said they thought the cost of mobile phones was acceptable or affordable given the huge value of mobile communication for their business—in fact, they likely could not remain in business without it.
[ 69 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 70 ] pay to charge their phones at least sometimes (29% of respondents), the majority said they spent less than 1,000vt per month (57.9%).

A further 16.5% spent between 1,000 and 2,000 vatu, with only a small number (7.2%) spending more than 2,000vt per month.
Phone expenditure When asked to consider how much they spent on all their phone costs each month, very few respondents (less than 9% of the total sample) reported paying for fi xed line phones.

Of those who did, the majority paid less than 1,000vt per month (73.1% of those paying for private lines, and 84.5% of those paying to use public phones).

In contrast, almost all respondents said mobile phone costs were part of their regular monthly expenditure.
Just over half of all respondents said they were spending less than 1,000vt per month on their mobile phones, but this varied widely between survey locations, as shown in the table below.

In general, a greater proportion of respondents in urban areas were spending higher amounts per month (i.e.

more than 3,000 vatu, which amounts to approximately 7% of the mean reported monthly income for the total sample) compared to those in rural areas.
A notable exception was Isini, where nearly half of the respondents were spending over 3,000vt per month.
Table 36 Proportion of respondents spending various amounts per month on mobile phones (%) Survey location <500vt 500–1,000vt 1,000–2,000vt 3,000–4,000vt >4,000vt Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total Phone communication topics – 11.2 13.5 NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy We asked respondents how often they used public fi xed line, private fi xed line, and mobile telephones to communicate about various topics (business, education, health, emergency situations) or to talk with families and friends.
Refl ecting the higher rates of access to mobile phones compared to access to fi xed lines, a [ 71 ] much greater proportion of respondents used mobile phones ‘rarely’, ‘sometimes’, or ‘often’ for each of the communication purposes we asked about.

Public ﬁ xed lines In many survey locations none of the respondents used public fi xed line phones for any of these purposes, or did so only rarely.
Exceptions were in Anelghowhat, Isini, and Umej, where a sizeable group of respondents sometimes or often used public phones for one of these purposes (ranging from 6.3% to 22.6% of local respondents, depending on purpose).

These respondents were most likely to use public phones for talking with family and friends (15.8% of respondents in Anelghowhat, 22.6% in Isini, and 12.5% in Umej).
Private ﬁ xed lines The pattern of use for private fi xed line phones was very similar to that for public phones: in many areas private fi xed lines are never or only rarely used, with the exceptions being Anelghowhat, Isini, Umej, and Freswota 1.

Rates of public and private fi xed line use were similar for all communication purposes in Isini, ranging from 6.4% to 12.9%.
In contrast, a greater proportion of respondents in Anelghowhat and Umej sometimes or often use private fi xed lines than use public fi xed lines.

For example, 35.6% of respondents in Anelghowhat and 31.3% in Umej use private fi xed line phones for talking with family and friends—more than twice as many as use public fi xed lines for these purposes.
A small proportion of residents in Freswota 1 also use private fi xed line phones for a variety of purposes: 10.1% used fi xed lines for talking about business, 5.1% for talking about education (e.g.

calling a school), 8.8% for talking about health (e.g.

calling a nurse), 7.6% for communication in emergencies, and 10.1% for talking with family and friends.
Mobile phones Across all areas, the majority of respondents said they used mobile phones (even if only on rare occasions) for all of the communication purposes we asked about.

For talking about business, health, education, or emergencies, the largest portion of respondents (ranging from 30.1% for business to 45.2% for emergencies) said they used mobiles ‘sometimes’.

For talking with family and friends, the majority of respondents (60.3%) said they used mobiles ‘often’.
However, as shown in Table 37, respondents in some locations used mobiles to talk about various communication topics signifi cantly more frequently than did respondents in other locations.

For instance, signifi cantly more urban respondents than rural respondents often use their mobiles to talk with friends and family.

In contrast, signifi cantly more rural respondents than urban respondents often use mobiles to talk about education and health.
Table 37 Proportion of respondents using mobile phones for business, education, or health (%)52 52 All differences between urban and rural areas are signifi cant, except for mobile use for business.

The proportion of respondents indicating they use mobile phones ‘sometimes’ for each purpose has not been included in this table, as this was the most frequent response across survey respondents.

However, this proportion can be calculated by subtracting the other shown response proportions from 100%.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 72 ] Survey location Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total Never/ Rarely use for business Often use for business Never/Rarely use for education Often use for education Never/ Rarely use for health Often use for health – Table 38 Proportion of respondents using mobile phones in emergencies or with friends/family (%)53 Survey location Never/Rarely use for emergencies Often use for emergencies Never/Rarely use to talk with friends & family Often use to talk with friends and family Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total 58.3 38.6 60.0 53.1 48.7 44.0 25.4 35.9 43.5 30.4 46.1 34.7 28.9 43.3 51.7 25.9 91.8 42.2 46.4 6.9 8.8 8.8 7.8 2.6 8.0 11.1 24.5 8.1 21.7 – NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 53 All differences between urban and rural areas are signifi cant.
The proportion of respondents indicating they use mobile phones ‘sometimes’ for each purpose has not been included in this table, as this was the most frequent response across survey respondents.

However, this proportion can be calculated by subtracting the other shown response proportions from 100%.

Phone impacts Respondents saw telephones as having had a number of impacts on their lives— both positive and negative.
We discuss these impacts, and the way they appear to vary across survey locations, below.

It is important to note that all of the reported impacts are measured by respondent perceptions, not outside measures; thus, it may be the case that some benefi ts and costs are either under– or over-stated.
Positive economic, informational, and social impacts of telephony To assess whether the documented benefi ts of mobile phones are still felt some time after the initial introduction or expansion of telephony, we asked respondents whether, over the past two years, they felt phones had helped them ‘a lot’ (large infl uence), ‘somewhat/a little’ (some infl uence), or ‘not at all’ (no infl uence) in a number of areas.
These areas can be grouped into: obtaining economic benefi ts; connecting with social networks; and accessing services and information (including both key services, which are of relevance to all households, and specialised services, which are relevant only to households engaged in particular commercial activities).
As shown in Table 39, the majority of respondents felt that phones had helped them either a little or a lot in all three areas (with the exception of specialised services, which were simply not applicable to the majority of respondents).
These fi ndings emphasise the important economic and social benefi ts that telephones bring for communities throughout Vanuatu, and help put the expenditure reported earlier in this section in perspective: for relatively low costs, there are relatively substantial and varied benefi ts.
The specifi c areas in which the greatest proportion of respondents felt that phones had helped them a lot in the past two years were in enabling more frequent contact with family and friends (55.2%), and increasing the speed of communication (48.2%).

A majority of respondents also felt that phones had helped them a little over the last two years in getting better access to health care services (53.6%), and to increased social support (50.6%).
As an interesting contrast to these results, more than a quarter of respondents felt that phones had not helped them at all in terms of improving communication with government departments (26.8%).

This may indicate that the government could do more to improve their use of communication technology to connect with the public.
When looking at response patterns to these questions on the economic, social, and informational impacts of phones, it is evident that urban and rural respondents differed signifi cantly in how helpful they thought phones had been for them in the past two years.
For instance, substantially (more than 16%) more rural respondents than urban respondents thought that phones had not been at all helpful in terms of saving on travel costs, improving communication with government departments, getting information about new products, and organising transport and logistics.
Conversely, substantially (more than 16%) more urban respondents than rural respondents thought that phones had been very helpful in improving group communication, increasing the speed of communication in general, and increasing the frequency of contact with friends and family, and had been a little bit helpful in terms of improving access to health services (e.g.

being able to phone a nurse for information or advice).
These differences suggest that [ 73 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 74 ] QUALITATIVE INSIGHT Telecoms important for all—but may be more integrated in urban areas, and yet to be fully realised in rural villages Participants from 12 of the 16 female focus groups and 11 of the 15 male focus groups mentioned telecommunications either as the most important or a highly important community service.
These participants said that mobile phones were valuable to them because they are fast and convenient, help reduce travel time and the costs of communication, help to reduce isolation and improve connectivity, enable the distribution of inputs for service delivery, and help businesses grow in and across remote areas.
In many discussions, participants talked most explicitly about the beneﬁ ts at the household and small business level, indicating that with mobile phones they can receive and quickly pass on information about schools (e.g.

ﬁ nding out about school fees, the start and end time for school, and the status of their school children), enquire about or receive cyclone and tsunami warnings, communicate about the status of family and relatives, obtain shipping schedules, and order store goods.
If the sea is too rough to travel by boat, and ships do not come in as planned; or if going to the other side (Sola) is made impossible by heavy rainfalls; or when someone is sick; then, we will get emergency help through telecommunication.

With the new mobile technology, communication is faster, the need to travel is reduced, and we are able to get some form of response regardless of our isolation.

People can now order their cargo using mobile phones—they do not need to go to Sola and Santo anymore.
They can also now do many other things with mobile phones.

If the [phone] service is improved maybe it will bring about more changes in communities.

Previously, older forms of communication, like the shared tele-radio, took a lot of time and only operated at certain times of the day and week.

But with new technology like mobile phones, we can own a phone and so we can communicate ourselves quickly in less time.

We climb hills to make calls to Sola to order our cargo from Santo.
We also communicate for different things.

This is why communication is one priority for the community.

It encourages change [development].

—Business representative, male focus group, Vetumboso Interestingly, there were some differences in the comments made by rural and urban respondents.
Respondents from the most remote villages (for example Levetlis, Port Narvin, and Atangura/Atabulu) and villages with fairly recent experiences of mobile phones such as Vetumboso appeared to be more focussed on discussing the beneﬁ ts and importance of telecommunications than participants from urban sites.
This may indicate that mobile phones have become a ‘normal’ part of life in urban areas, and their beneﬁ ts have been absorbed to the extent that communication is no longer seen as the most important issue to discuss.

In rural areas, however, the various beneﬁ ts of mobile phones in improving livelihoods and decreasing isolation in emergencies are still being realised, and thus continuing to increase access to telecommunications remains a high priority and frequent topic of community discussions.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy although both urban and rural respondents perceive phones to provide a number of economic, social, and informational benefi ts, phones play a more integral role for urban residents.

In particular, for urban residents phones have become very important for business purposes and for connecting with social networks.
Urban residents also appear to be better positioned to access health and government [ 75 ] services using their phones—two areas that it could be important to focus on improving in rural locations.
Table 39 Proportion of respondents reporting levels of help from phones in last two years (%)54 Telephones have helped household: To obtain economic beneﬁ ts A lot Somewhat Not at all 15.54 32.68 19.52 n/a 21.47 to increase speed of communication to save travel time to save on travel costs to get increased ﬁ nancial support to reduce time needed for business activities to organise transport and logistics to check product availability before travel to increase sales to reduce business costs to get better market prices To connect with to social networks to make more frequent contact with family and friends to improve group coordination to get increased social support To access key services and information to get quick help in emergencies to get more public record information to get better health access to get info about schools and colleges to talk with government departments To access specialised services and information to get information about crop management to get information about subsidies to get information about new products to understand and meet legal requirements to get information about tides to increase awareness of land and water laws to get access to professional vets etc.
to get information about livestock management These urban-rural differences were also evident when we asked respondents what impact not having a phone would have on their economic activities.
As shown in Table 40, urban respondents were, on the whole, more likely than rural respondents to perceive the loss of phone access as having a negative impact on their economic activities.

Nearly three quarters of urban respondents said they would either be unable to continue their current economic activities, or could do so only with diffi culty, if they did not have a phone.

However, respondents in some areas did not appear to be so reliant on phones.
For instance, more than half of the respondents from Chapuis East, Port Olry, Sola, and Vetumboso said that not having a phone would make no difference to their economic activities.

This suggests that households in these areas have not yet fully integrated mobile phone technology into their business and household activities, and may still be reliant on other forms of communication.
54 Each key area in which telephones have helped (in bold) has been calculated from the average of the specifi c survey items below it.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 76 ] QUALITATIVE INSIGHT Rising use of mobiles leads to decreases in other communication forms, but will not eliminate the importance of face-to-face contact Participants in many focus groups reported that mobile phones were now the most common or preferred means of communication.
Although communication using ‘traditional’ methods (particularly face-to-face, via local leaders and chiefs, through letters, and via radio) continues, it was reported to be decreasing in Lenakel, Ngala, Atangura/Atabulu, Levetlis, Lamen Bay, Blacksands, Umej, and Vetumboso.

In Atangura/Atabulu, participants commented that radio has been almost fully replaced by mobiles, but letters were still used in few cases for ordering trading goods, particularly store items.
…Mobile phone is now the most convenient way of communicating with the outside world.

It decreases the distance between people within our village, on the island, and between other islands and towns in Vanuatu, as well as with the outside world.

But it’s reducing the amount of face-to-face communication.

Face-to-face communication has already been affected in the short time since [mobile phone] introduction last year.
At homes, face-to-face communication is even diminishing between parents and their children.

This leads to divided attention, for example children aren’t paying attention to their parents during conversations because they have earplugs in to listen to music on their phones, or are playing games, or texting.

The same happens between mothers and fathers too.


There is disrespect when talking to parents, and people are not communicating face-to-face as much… It looks like we will not really be utilising face-to-face communication as much as we did before.

And as other forms of communication become popular, face-to-face communication will become less valuable in some ways.
—Participant, Male focus group, Vetumboso Nevertheless, despite these changes in communication forms, many focus group participants felt that face-face communication and communication via local leaders was still common, and would persist because it was respected as a culturally appropriate form in village settings.
Perceived impacts of telephony on other forms of communication The majority of respondents felt that increased use of phones in recent years had contributed to a reduction in communication via letters, communication through newspapers, and in face-to-face communication.

Approximately a third also felt that phones had contributed to a decrease in communication through the village council.

However, as shown in Table 41, respondents from different survey locations differed in their perceptions.
In particular, more urban respondents than rural respondents perceived phone use to have negatively impacted communication through village councils, face-to-face means, and letters, whereas more rural respondents perceived phone use to have reduced communication through newspapers.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Perceived negative social impacts of telephony Past research has suggested that increased technology use can lead to social changes that communities perceive to be negative.
When we asked survey respondents whether they felt that increased phone use had infl uenced the magnitude of several social problems in their communities, the majority said yes— they believed that phones had either had some infl uence, or a lot of infl uence, on problems such as bullying, marriage breakups, reduction in traditional communication, pornography, student distraction, and youth problems.
Some respondents also mentioned other social concerns that they thought phones contributed to, including increased crime, fi nancial problems (related to over- spending on phones), negative health effects, jealousy, and laziness.
Table 40 Proportion of respondents predicting different impacts on their economic activities of not having access to a phone (%) Survey location Unable to continue Continue with difﬁ culty No difference Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total 0.9 3.6 1.3 1.7 3.0 6.0 7.9 5.9 8.5 4.3 12.9 13.0 – 3.4 7.1 14.5 – As shown in Table 42, respondents in some areas were more likely than those in other areas to perceive particular types of phone-related problems.
For instance, more urban respondents than rural respondents perceived phones to contribute to each of the issues we asked about, suggesting that phones are being used in different ways in different areas (perhaps related to different levels of phone capabilities—residents in some areas may tend to have simpler phones, lacking image functionality).
Different survey locations also differed in the proportion of respondents who thought that phones contributed to various issues—for instance, in Vetumboso the majority of respondents did not perceive phones to have infl uenced bullying, marriage breakups, or pornography in their community.
These differences between areas may be related to the different degrees of exposure to mobile phones and internet that each community has had—over time, different benefi ts and costs of having improved communications may become more evident, changing opinions about the value of ICT.
[ 77 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 78 ] Table 41 Proportion of respondents perceiving various impacts of phones on other forms of communication (%) Reduced communication via: Village council Face-to-face Letters Newspaper Survey location Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total I 84.6 96.5 87.2 88.3 64.5 93.9 63.1 80.7 78.2 86.7 34.5 82.4 95.5 50.8 63.6 85.9 31.5 68.4 75.6 I d e s a e r c n I y h p a r g o n r o p 95.6 94.8 100.0 96.3 96.3 93.9 98.5 98.4 92.2 86.7 94.8 96.1 93.2 69.8 97.0 96.9 45.2 88.3 91.2 s t n e d u t s d e t c a r t s D i d e s a e r c n I l s m e b o r p h t u o y 98.2 98.2 98.9 98.4 96.3 98.4 98.4 100.0 96.9 83.3 92.9 96.1 100.0 82.5 83.9 98.5 57.5 91.1 93.8 Table 42 Proportion of respondents perceiving phones to have inﬂ uenced various social issues (%)55 Survey location NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy responses.
55 It is possible that these fi gures over-represent actual concerns, as there may be an ‘assent-bias’ in [ 79 ] QUALITATIVE INSIGHT Adults concerned that youth are being negatively inﬂ uenced by increased use of mobile phones Participants in male and female focus groups in Lenakel, Middle Bush, Lamen Bay, Chapuis East, Port Olry, Blacksands, and Vetumboso mentioned a number of negative social changes relating to phones.
Most concerns in these areas centred on perceived problems of increased mobile telephony for young people, including negative impacts on their education, their future relationships, and their family bonds.

For instance, some focus group participants thought that more youth were swearing or acting in abusive ways due to messages they were being exposed to via mobile phones and the internet.
too many children own phones and spend so much time on phones that they become lazy, listening to bad music and seeing many bad things.

—NGO representative, Female focus group, Vetumboso Some also thought that more village teenage girls were becoming pregnant as a result of secret ‘romantic liaisons’ arranged via text messages.

Others reported that school students had been dismissed from school for breaching rules prohibiting mobile use during school hours, negatively impacting on their education.
Aside from the perceived high cost of mobile telephony, such problems were seen to be the main ‘downside’ of improved telecommunications.

…I was here and I had my eldest brother’s daughter with me…she had a phone that she often hid, and she only used the phone in secret because her phone contained some pornographic images [rabis pija long hem blo wan man wetem wan gel].
When I asked to use her phone one time I saw the images… I then demanded that she delete those images and stop looking at or exchanging such materials.

But today, the girl is two months pregnant… She is a teenager, 17 years old and she has an expensive phone.

I don’t know who gave it to her.

This is my bad experience with phones in my house.


—Household representative, Female focus group, Chapuis East A special subgroup: respondents without mobile phones Finally, we asked a few additional questions of the relatively small group of respondents (comprising less than 20% of the total sample) who do not currently have mobile phones.

First, we asked how likely they would be to buy a phone in the future, and what reasons (if any) they had for not buying a phone.
The majority of the group (56.9%) said they were likely to buy a phone in the future.

One in four of these people said this likelihood was high (i.e.

that they had plans to get a phone in the near future); others were less certain.

The key reasons given by the people who were either uncertain about getting a phone, or who said they were not planning to get a phone, were that they thought mobile phones were too expensive (35.1%), or that they just do not like them (36.2%).
Other people said that there was inadequate local network coverage (13.2%).

When probed about what ‘other’ reasons might prevent them from purchasing phones, several respondents said they thought they would end up spending too much money in the future to buy credit for the phone.

Others were NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 80 ] concerned about possible health complications, or were not sure how to use a phone.
One respondent said he thought he was just too old to use a mobile.

We also asked these respondents how useful they expected phones to be for them for business purposes, social purposes, and informational purposes.

The majority of respondents (ranging from 63.7% to 65.4%) said that they expected phones to be either useful or very useful for each of these three purposes.
Many of them also listed a number of other ways in which they thought mobile phones could be useful for them, including increasing the speed of orders and transactions, reducing the need for travel, generally saving time and money, and improving connections and organisation both within the local community and with people in other areas.

NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 7.
Internet use The ﬁ nal section of our survey this year asked respondents about internet use.

This was the ﬁ rst time that such questions have been asked.

The response rate was low, as the majority of survey respondents indicated that they did not have any internet access.
Nevertheless, the limited number of responses we were able to gather indicated that people are beginning to access the internet at internet cafés and at their workplaces, and to a lesser extent through mobile phones and on home computers.

Respondents perceived the internet to be important, especially for accessing news and information, but do not yet view it as an essential service.
Perceived cost, limited availability of computers, and lack of experience with the technology appear to be key barriers to increased usage.

Exposure to the internet Refl ecting the absence of effective services across Vanuatu,56 internet penetration appears to be low among the population surveyed: 72% of respondents said they had never seen or used the internet or email.

A further 17% said they had seen the internet, but not used it.
As may be expected, these exposure levels signifi cantly differed between urban and rural areas, with only 20% of the rural population having even seen the internet being used, compared to 40% in urban areas.
Table 43 Proportion of survey respondents who have seen or used internet or email – by village (%) Survey location Seen and used Seen but not used Not seen or used Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Digicel offers GPRS/EDGE connectivity throughout its coverage area, but the service has been reported to be very unreliable by members of the Vanuatu Geohazards Unit, who attempted to obtain mobile connections in Tanna, Lopevi, Ambae and Gaua.
[ 81 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 82 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total 7.8 0.0 5.5 11.8 10.9 9.0 15.5 16.5 81.3 91.0 79.0 71.8 Exposure also differed between age groups, with younger respondents being far more likely to have seen and used the internet than older respondents.
This is likely partly explained by the higher proportions of younger respondents in urban areas, where internet is more accessible.

QUALITATIVE INSIGHT Even where internet access is available, knowledge about it is still limited In almost all of the community focus group discussions (the only exception being in Anelghowhat), some group participants mentioned the internet as an important service.

Many of these people said they knew of other people who had used the internet, or had heard about it.
However, few participants were familiar with using the internet themselves.

Notably, in areas where exposure to the internet was more limited (and where, often, access was simply unavailable), very little of the conversation dwelled on the internet, with more focus being given to telephones and other community infrastructure.
For instance, participants from male focus groups in Middle Bush/ Lamnatu, Umej, Lamen Bay, Blacksands, Freshwota 1, Port Narvin, and from female focus groups in Lamen Bay, Ngala, Blacksands, Port Olry, Vetumboso, Unpongkor, Efate, Santo, Tanna, and Aneityum hardly discussed the internet, only referring to it brieﬂ y.

In contrast, in group discussions in areas with better internet access (e.g.
Lenakel, Anelghowhat, Sola, Freshwota 1, and Chapuis East), more of the group participants talked about the internet.

Most described what they had heard about the internet from other people, or where they knew the internet could be accessed, but few had actually used the internet themselves.

In Lenakel, participants in the female focus group said they did not know how to use the internet themselves but knew the internet was provided at the TVL ofﬁ ce, USP Tanna Campus, and at the provincial hospital.
In Sola one of the female focus group participants working at the provincial government said that she did not use the internet herself, but knew her colleagues sometimes emailed.

An interesting exception to the relationship between internet access and internet knowledge was in Blacksands, which is located in Port Vila, and where people should have reasonable access to internet cafés and community facilities offering internet access (such as Wan Smol Bag).
None of the participants in either the male or female focus groups in Blacksands talked about the internet, illustrating that although access may be available there, many people are still unaware of it or do not see it as an important part of their daily lives.

Even where internet access was available, participants noted that it was not particularly reliable.

For instance, participants in Sola, Lenakel, and Aneityum said they thought the service was often temporarily out.
In Freshwota 1 and Chapuis East, some participants reported that the most reliable access was at their workplace.
[ 83 ] Table 44 Proportion of survey respondents who have seen or used internet – by age group (%) Age Group Seen and used Seen but not used Not seen or used Under 25 25-35 36-50 51-70 Over 70 Total 22.2 14.3 7.0 3.8 0.0 11.8 15.7 16.7 18.8 12.7 6.7 16.5 62.0 69.1 74.2 83.4 93.3 71.8 Interestingly, the most frequently reported fi rst point of exposure to, or information about, the internet was through seeing it being used or talked about in the media (121 people reported this).
Another frequently reported means of exposure was through seeing students using it (76 people).

People also said they had seen others accessing the internet through their mobile (33), going into an internet café (26), or had learned about it through their company (25) or by seeing colleagues using it (58).
Of the 138 respondents who said they had used the internet and email, the majority (79%) had been using the internet for more than two years, while approximately 20% had started using the internet in the past year or month.

There were no signifi cant differences in frequency of uptake between areas or population groups.
The questions on internet access, costs, and importance presented in the remainder section should have been directed to only those people who said they did use the internet (sample size of 138), while the remaining questions (on barriers to use and perceived impacts) should have been directed to all respondents who had seen the internet, whether or not they had used it (sample size of 331).
However, there appears to have been some confusion in the survey administration, and responses were not recorded for the full relevant sample for all questions.

In tables of overall responses we have provided proportions of unrecorded responses, and caution readers that high numbers of ‘no responses’ may indicate lower reliability of the data for that survey question.

Access to the internet The most frequently used sites for internet access were workplaces, followed by internet cafés.
Fewer people reported accessing the internet through private home computers or self-owned mobile phones.

Other points of internet access that respondents identifi ed included school or university, through mobile phones or computers belonging to friends or family, at community service offi ces such as Youth Challenge and Wan Smolbag Theatre,57 or at shops or offi ces.
These patterns of access likely refl ect the demographics of the survey sample; for instance, internet access through schools or university likely would have been higher if we had surveyed a younger group of respondents.

57 Wan Smolbag Theatre is a non-government organisation operating throughout the Pacifi c from a base in Port Vila.
The organisation runs performances and structured workshops on topics such as education, environment, governance, health and youth issues, with the aim of raising awareness and facilitating community discussion.
http://www.wansmolbag.org NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 84 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Table 45 Places where people access the internet58 Location Internet café Private access – home computer Workplace Mobile phone Other (speciﬁ ed below) Schools School University of the South Paciﬁ c Friend’s house Brother’s house Aunty/Mother’s house Father’s laptop Friend’s mobile Wan Smol Bag Youth Challenges Private work Volcano ofﬁ ce next to ‘Flaming bull’ Stop Press Nambawan Café Centreville Family/friends Community centres Shops/ofﬁ ces No response Percent 20.3% 13.8% 26.8% 9.4% 23.9% Count 28 19 37 13 33 8 3 3 1 1 1 6 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 21 15.2% As shown in Table 46, patterns of use for each of these access locations differed.
People who accessed internet at workplaces were more likely to do so on a daily basis.

People who used home computers and mobiles (own or others’) tended to access the internet on a weekly basis, and people who went to internet cafés did so just once or twice a month.
Table 46 How frequently users access the internet, by location (% of respondents) Location Never Daily Internet café Home computer Mobile phone Workplace Other place 10.1 10.1 9.4 9.4 10.1 0.7 4.3 0.7 23.2 4.3 1-2 times per week 1-2 times per fortnight 1-2 times per month No response recorded 5.8 3.6 2.9 2.9 8.0 1.4 0.7 2.2 2.2 4.3 15.9 2.9 4.3 1.4 6.5 65.9 78.3 80.4 60.9 66.7 Costs of internet use The reported patterns of use may in part refl ect the cost of each instance of access.
As shown in Table 47, most reported internet expenditure was in internet cafés, although this tended to be less than 5,000vt per month in total.

Many users reported not paying anything for access at work or from other access points (such as friends’ phones or computers).

Those who said they did not pay to use home computers may not have been considering the cost of monthly connection fees, which some respondents reported to cost over 5,000vt per month.
It seems likely that monthly connection fees create a prohibitive barrier to accessing the internet at home—it is notable, for instance, that although a reasonable number of urban respondents reported owning a computer, few appear to be using those 58 Some people indicated that they accessed the internet at more than one location, hence the percentages add Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy up to more than 100%.

[ 85 ] computers for internet access (i.e.


perhaps using them solely for word processing and other similar functions).
Table 47 How much users spend on the internet per month by location (% of respondents) Access Location Don’t pay <500vt 500-1,000vt 1,000-5,000vt >5,000vt Internet café Home computer Mobile phone Workplace Other place 1.4 4.3 1.4 26.8 23.2 5.1 1.4 3.6 0.7 4.3 9.4 0.0 2.2 0.0 1.4 6.5 5.1 0.7 2.2 0.0 1.4 2.2 2.2 0.7 0.0 No response recorded 76.1 87.0 89.9 69.6 71.0 Based on midpoints of the cost ranges that respondents selected, excluding those who did not pay for or use the location,59 it appears that the highest monthly expenditure was via home computers (approximately 3,700vt per month—which may be understated, as noted above), followed by work (approximately 3,400vt per month), mobile phones (approximately 2,400vt per month—again, possibly understated), and internet cafés (approximately 1,700vt per month).
These amounts are considerably more than those reported for expenditure on mobile calls and texting (as shown earlier in Section 6 of this report), which may be why the internet was widely perceived by respondents as either very expensive (34%) or a bit expensive (28%).
Importance of the internet Regardless of where they were using the internet, the majority of users thought the internet was important or very important for accessing general information (75%), for international news (75%), for work emails (67%), for study purposes (67%), for personal emails (69%), for business (67%), for weather information (60%), and for accessing government information (52%).

Fewer people thought that the internet was an important tool for communicating in times of emergency (37%).
Despite this appreciation of the importance of the internet, most people felt they would still be able to carry out their current economic and information gathering activities if they no longer had internet access (only 4% of respondents to this question felt they ‘could not continue’).

However, the majority (51% for information gathering, and 44% for economic) said they would encounter diffi culties in doing so.
In contrast, internet appeared to be less important for social activities: 46% of people using internet for this purpose said it would make little or no difference to their social lives if they no longer had access, while 28% could continue their current social activities with some diffi culty.
59 These are ‘rough’ calculations based on the assumption that those reporting ‘< 500’ were spending 250vt per month, those reporting ‘500-1,000’ were spending 750vt per month, those reporting ‘1,000-5,000’ were spending 3,000vt per month, and those spending ‘> 5,000’ were spending 7,500vt per month.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 86 ] Table 48 How being unable to use internet would impact current activities (% of respondents) Impact area Impact on economic activities Impact on general information access Impact on social activities e u n i t n o c t o n d u o C l 4.3 4.3 1.4 e u n i t n o C y t l u c ﬁ f i d h t i w 44.2 51.4 28.3 h c u m t o N e c n e r e f f i d 7.2 8.7 12.3 l l a t a e c n e r e f f i d o N 17.4 14.5 33.3 i i n o n p o o N 13.0 8.0 10.9 d e d r o c e r e s n o p s e r o N 13.8 13.0 13.8 Barriers to using the internet When asked about why they are not currently using the internet (regardless of whether they ever had), the majority of respondents (57%) said they had no way to access it.
Many others (24%) said they did not use it because it was too expensive, and the remainder said they had other reasons or did not know.

Of QUALITATIVE INSIGHT Little exposure, but lots of perceived beneﬁ ts Participants who talked about the internet expressed their belief that it brought many beneﬁ ts—even despite their limited exposure and access, and the unreliable services in their communities.
Participants in groups in Anelghowhat, Freshwota 1, Chapuis East, Atangurua/Atabulu and Levetlis said they thought the internet was good for accessing the most up to date local and global information and events.

In group discussions in Unpongkor, participants said they want internet services to become available in their areas, so they could beneﬁ t from it.

In Vetumboso and Sola, groups participants perceived internet as one of the fastest and most convenient forms of communication.
One of the men in the Vetumboso focus group participants explained: I am seeing more new technologies through mobile are coming to this community.

Now when I talk about internet, not or most people here know about it.

Only few of us know.

Internet is good for communication.

My son is married to an Australian, if there was internet, it will be easy to communicate with him.

Or if I or his mother dies, he can fi nd out through using internet messages [email] quickly.

Internet saves time and I think cost.


In Anelghowhat, Freshwota 1, Sola, Atangurua/Atabulu, and Levetlis, participants talked about the speciﬁ c beneﬁ ts of internet to education, business, work efﬁ ciency and productivity, e-government and improvement to service delivery.

They said the internet enables them to get information during crises and emergencies, and enables email communication with family and friends.
A teacher in one of the groups explained: It’s a good service that provides up-to-date local and global news.

[Internet] allows people to communicate across the world.

Good internet improves the educational outputs of students as a result of exposure to a global library of learning resources.

The benefi ts are signifi cant for all aspects of community development, including education, healthcare, businesses, and entrepreneurial activities.
—Female focus group, Atangurua/Atabulu, Central Pentecost NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 87 ] those who listed other reasons for not using the internet, the majority (70%) said ‘no save usum’—they didn’t know how, or could not.60 When asked how likely they were to use the internet or email in the next year, just over half of the respondents said they were likely (35%) or very likely (15%) to do so, with the remainder indicating they were unlikely to (45%).
Of those who said they were unlikely to use the internet in the next year, the most frequently cited reason was that they didn’t know how to use the internet (37%).

Other frequently cited reasons were that it was too expensive (25%) or simply not available (23%).

A smaller number (7%) said they did not have access to the internet, or had other reasons for not using it (6%), such as not feeling that the internet ‘applied’ to them, or just not wanting to.
Participants were also asked how easy they thought the internet would be to use.

The majority of respondents to this question indicated that they thought the internet seemed easy to use (41%), and a further 21% thought that it seemed diffi cult, but they could learn.

Only 18% thought that the internet seemed too diffi cult for them.

Urban respondents (especially those from Efate) were signifi cantly more likely to consider the internet easy to use (59%) than rural respondents (24%).
Perhaps partly refl ecting their greater concentration in urban areas, signifi cantly more younger respondents (60% of those under 25, compared to 30% of those over 35) and respondents with higher levels of schooling (51% of those with a secondary or higher education, compared to 25% of those with a primary or no education) indicated that the internet seemed easy to use.
Table 49 How easy internet seems to use, by survey location (% of respondents) Survey location Seems easy Seems difﬁ cult but could learn Too difﬁ cult Don’t know Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total A low sense of familiarity with the internet could be partially linked to lower levels of literacy, especially for older respondents, and those living in rural areas.
Some respondents may have also given this response to mean being physically unable to use the internet because of lack of access, although this is unlikely given the context of the question.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 88 ] QUALITATIVE INSIGHT Communities perceive threat of the internet introducing ‘bad’ material and unhealthy distractions Participants in eight groups mentioned that they thought there were also some disadvantages of the internet, particularly in terms of negative social impacts.
For example, one of the male participants in Sola said that excessive internet use could become a problem for employers, if their workers were wasting their productive time on emails.
Women in Port Narvin, Freshwota 1, and Chapuis East and men in Vetumboso, Ngala, Chapuis East and Atangurua/Atabulu said they were concerned the internet could have a negative impact on marital and family stability, especially if people were accessing ‘dirty’ materials through the internet on phones and computers (including downloading illicit pictures) and engaging in inappropriate communication with community members.
Women in Chapuis East also felt that the internet was somewhat dehumanising, and lacked the type of contact that they got in face-to-face communication.

Perceived impacts of the internet Finally, we asked participants about their perceptions of both the benefi ts and the negative impacts of the internet.

The most frequently cited benefi t of the internet was access to information, followed by making work communication more convenient and improving work effi ciency.
When asked to specify, respondents said some ‘other’ benefi ts included faster communication with family and friends, access to world news, and saving time in getting organised.

Table 50 Perceived beneﬁ ts of using the internet61 Beneﬁ t None Improve work efﬁ ciency Work communication more convenient Save time organising Help get access to information Other No response recorded % of respondents 10.9% 25.4% 27.8% 16.6% 71.6% 9.4% 7.3% A handful of respondents identifi ed some less well-recognised benefi ts.
For example, one said the internet could be used to sell their handicrafts, another said the internet was good for meeting new friends, three indicated that the internet was benefi cial for education and school research, and two others thought that downloading music and movies was an important benefi t. Despite these perceived benefi ts, a considerable number of respondents thought the internet had some negative impacts (52%).

Many others were unsure (26%).


These responses signifi cantly differed between urban and rural locations, with relatively more urban respondents (especially in Efate) indicating that they thought there were negative impacts, and more rural respondents (especially in Aneityum, Tanna, and Epi) being unsure.
61 Some people indicated that they thought the internet had multiple benefi ts, hence the percentages add to NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy more than 100% When asked what they thought the negative impacts of the internet were, many respondents indicated access to pornography (‘rabis’ movies and pictures) was a key problem.
Some specifi ed that they thought viewing such images led to temptation, cheating on partners, breaking up families, wasting time not working, and even rape.

Other negative impacts included increased criminal activities, negative changes to kastom and culture, increased laziness, addiction and other health problems, and the wasting of time or money.

Table 51 Any negative impacts of using the internet?
(% of respondents) Survey location Blacksands Chapuis East Freswota 1 URBAN Anelghowhat Atabulu/Atangurua Isini Lamen Bay Lamnatu Levetlis Ngala Port Narvin Port Olry Sola Umej Unpongkor Vetumboso RURAL Total Yes 72.0 42.6 62.3 61.1 30.8 83.3 29.0 41.7 0.5 100.0 0.6 66.7 50.0 51.7 0.0 75.0 14.3 41.0 51.7 No 18.7 29.8 15.1 20.6 7.7 0.8 16.1 25.0 66.7 3.3 1.1 16.7 16.7 24.1 3.6 16.7 100.0 19.9 20.2 Unsure 6.7 14.9 24.5 14.3 61.5 15.1 51.6 33.3 31.8 0.0 100.0 16.7 33.3 24.1 87.5 6.8 0.0 38.5 25.7 [ 89 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 90 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy 8.
Developments over time Some of the data we collected in the 2011 survey is comparable with that from our two previous surveys, in 2008 and 2009.

This section highlights some of the similarities and differences in the survey ﬁ ndings across the three years, focusing on the six survey sites (three urban, and three rural) that have been consistently polled during all surveys.
Results suggest that respondents have consistently viewed recent changes in their communities as positive, aside from a perception of declining ﬁ nancial support.

Mobile phone ownership has increased markedly since 2008, especially in rural areas, which have shown strong uptake of Digicel services.

More and more households in both rural and urban areas have access to multiple mobile phones.

At the same time, the use of letters and communication via local leaders has been declining.
Face-to-face communication has retained its importance over time, but phones are increasingly seen to provide beneﬁ ts in terms of access to specialised services, and augmented business performance.

Survey areas covered across all three years Six sites were included in all three surveys undertaken between 2008 and 2011.

The sample sizes for each of these sites are shown in Table 52 below.
Table 52 Sample sizes in each of six sites across three survey years Location Blacksands Chapuis Freswota 1 URBAN AREAS TOTAL Isini Lamnatu Port Olry RURAL AREAS TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL 371 242 184 797 150 163 153 466 1,263 In this section, we compare only the data collected from these sites, rather than from the full samples in 2009 and 2011 (which covered additional sites).
Although this approach requires us to set aside approximately half of the data collected in 2009 and 2011, we believe it is important to do so to enable more accurate comparisons across time.

Perceptions of community life becoming easier over time Across all three survey years, the proportion of respondents who felt that life in their communities had improved over the last two years remained fairly stable, with a slight upward trend from 2008 to 2011 (see Figure 4 and Figure 5).
This fi nding suggests that people in these communities perceive their lives to be continuously getting better.

As illustrated in Figure 4, the upward trend in perceived community improvements appeared strongest for government service quality.

Although the proportion of respondents indicating an improvement in government services fell by approximately 13% from 2008 to 2009, it then rose again by over 25% from 2009 to 2011.
This increase was most apparent in the Blacksands and Freswota 1, where considerably more people reported improvements in government services between 2009 and 2011 than had for the two-year periods leading up to 2008 and 2009.

These areas likely benefi t in terms of service access from their prime urban location in Port Vila and proximity to central government.
Figure 4 Proportion of respondents who thought education, health, security, government service quality, and telecommunications access had become better or much better in the past two years 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Access to telecoms Education Health Security Govt.
service quality 2008 2009 2010 2011 There is one notable exception to the general trend of perceived improvements: as shown in Figure 5 below, the proportion of respondents who reported experiencing improved fi nancial support (from external sources, such as other family members) over the past two years declined from 2008 to 2011.
However, this does not necessarily indicate that these households were becoming worse off; their perceived level of external fi nancial support could have stabilised, rather than decreased.
Even if fi nancial support had decreased, this may have been offset somewhat by an increase in household income (as shown in Figure 5, the proportion of respondents who reported improved income over the past two years increased slightly over the three surveys, suggesting that households in these areas may have been becoming more fi nancially self-suffi cient).
Such an increase in self-suffi ciency may be one of the benefi ts of improved mobile communication networks and increased mobile phone access, as we discuss further below.
[ 91 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 92 ] Figure 5 Proportion of respondents who thought friend and family relations, ﬁ nancial support, household income, and levels of knowledge had become better or much better in the past two years 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Friend relations Family relations Knowledge Income Financial support 2008 2009 2010 2011 Increases in phone ownership and importance Across the six survey sites covered in all three years, the median number of mobile phones per household remained steady, at two.
However, there was a slight but signifi cant increase in the mean number of phones per household in these areas: from 2.01 in 2008, to 2.35 in 2009, and 2.75 in 2011.

This increase was observable in both the urban areas and rural areas, as shown in Table 53 below.

Table 53 Average number of phones per household across survey years Year 2008 2009 2011 Three urban areas Three rural areas Mean 2.77 2.85 3.22 Std.

Deviation 1.63 1.46 1.98 Median Mean Std.


Deviation Median 2 3 3 1.21 1.66 1.57 1.50 1.10 1.07 1 1 1 Figure 6 shows some further insights on these trends in increasing phone ownership, focussing more specifi cally on households with no mobile phones, and households with more than two mobile phones.
Refl ecting the marked increase in access to mobile telephone services in rural areas when Digicel fi rst began operation, the proportion of rural households with no mobile phones decreased dramatically from 2008 to 2009, but then decreased only slightly more from 2009 to 2011.

The proportion of urban households without mobile phones was small and relatively stable across the three-year period.
In both rural and urban areas, the proportion of households with three or more mobile phones increased steadily between 2008 and 2011.

These increases in phone ownership suggest that people are relying less on borrowing phones from others, which likely makes phone use more convenient, amplifying many of the potential benefi ts of mobile communication.

However, there is some indication that the number of phones per household may not continue to rise at the same rate that it has over recent years.
For instance, data on access to phones indicates that, although there was an initial leap in access in rural areas from 2008 to 2009, there have not been further signifi cant improvements in either rural or urban areas between 2009 and 2011 (see Figure 7).

This suggests that, now, the main constraint to access is not phone ownership, but service coverage.
Thus, the number of phones per household may not continue to increase at the same rate unless there are improvements in service NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 93 ] reliability, especially in rural areas where phone convenience is limited by poor network coverage.
Figure 6 Proportion of urban and rural respondents each survey year with no mobile phones at home, or three or more mobile phones at home 60 60 50 50 40 40 30 30 20 20 10 10 0 0 Urban % with 3+ phones Urban % with 3+ phones Rural % with no phones Rural % with no phones Rural % with 3+ phones Rural % with 3+ phones Urban % with no phones Urban % with no phones 2008 2008 2009 2009 2010 2010 2011 2011 Figure 7 Percentage of respondents each year who said they had access to mobile phones 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 Urban Rural 2008 2009 2010 2011 Trends in mobile service provider choice Service coverage is also important when it comes to the choice of mobile service provider across locations in Vanuatu.
In some parts of the country, only one service provider is available, thus limiting consumer options.

Nevertheless, all urban residents and many rural residents now have a choice of providers.62 This choice has led to a fairly consistent pattern of service provider preferences since 2009.
Figure 8 Proportion of respondents in urban areas reporting use of different service providers 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Digicel TVL and Digicel TVL 2008 2009 2010 2011 As shown in Figure 8, across the three years of the survey most urban respondents reported using Digicel as their sole service provider.

Smaller, but roughly equal proportions reported using TVL alone, or both TVL and Digicel.
There appears to be a slight trend towards greater use of TVL over time, possibly refl ecting the more competitive offers TVL has made to consumers in an attempt to win back some of the market share from Digicel.

62 Port Olry, a rural area, is the only one of the six sites included in all three years of the survey that has only one provider, Digicel.

The remaining fi ve areas are now all served by Digicel and TVL.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 94 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Service provider use in rural areas has followed a slightly different trajectory, as shown in Figure 9.
Initially, rural residents reported higher use of TVL as a service provider, but once Digicel began operations in these areas it quickly became the preferred provider.
Figure 9 Proportion of respondents in rural areas reporting use of different service providers 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2008 Digicel TVL and Digicel TVL 2009 2010 2011 Consistently high importance of phones as means of communication Across all three years of the survey a high proportion of respondents indicated that phones were important or very important as a means of communication.
Furthermore, in both rural and urban areas, the proportions of respondents indicating that communication by phones and face-to-face communication were important were similar.

This suggests that phones have been integrated as a key mode of communication in all the surveyed communities.

Nevertheless, there were some notable differences in responses across urban and rural areas.
For instance, as shown in the comparison of Figures 10 and 11, signifi cantly more urban respondents than rural respondents thought technology- driven forms of communication such as advertisements, the internet, radios, and televisions were important.

This likely refl ects the higher rate of ownership of computers and other electrically powered communication appliances in urban households.
The one exception to this general trend for technology-driven modes of communication is with phones: large proportions of both urban and rural respondents viewed phones as important, although the proportion of rural respondents dropped notably over the three year period.

This is an unexpected fi nding, given other indications that phones are becoming increasingly important (such as increased mobile phone ownership rates in rural areas, and the expansion of services).
However, it may be explained in part by the use of the general category of ‘phones’: as explained in the Telephones section of this report, which discussed 2011 data, ﬁ xed line phones are now in decline in rural areas, and some respondents may have had the decreasing importance of these fi xed phones in mind when answering this question in the 2011 survey.
Figure 10 Proportion of urban respondents indicating each technology- driven communication type was ‘important’ or ‘very important’ [ 95 ] 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2008 2009 2010 2011 Figure 11 Proportion of rural respondents indicating each more technology- driven communication type was ‘important’ or ‘very important’ 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Phones Radio Television Advertisements Internet Phones Radio Television Advertisements Internet 2008 2009 2010 2011 Urban-rural differences are also notable when looking at changes in the importance of more traditional forms of communication from 2008 to 2011.
For instance, as shown in the comparison of Figure 12 and Figure 13 below, the proportion of respondents in urban areas who thought local leaders were important for communication declined slightly over the three survey years, whereas there was no signifi cant pattern of decline in rural areas—perhaps refl ecting the stronger traditional social structures in rural communities.
In contrast, the proportion of respondents in urban areas who indicated that village information centres were important for communication remained stable, whereas the proportion in rural areas declined steadily from an initially higher rate.

This decline in rural areas may be related to the need to travel some distance to reach an information centre, which could be avoided through the increasing use of phones.
Overall, these varying patterns of responses suggest that communities have responded in different ways to increased access to mobile telephony, fi nding that some of their previous modes of communication have become less relevant or convenient relative to phones (for instance, letters have shown a steady decline in both rural and urban areas), while other modes of communication (in particular, face-to-face contact) remain valuable—perhaps because they offer other social and economic benefi ts beyond simple communication.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 96 ] Figure 12 Proportion of urban respondents indicating each more traditional communication type was ‘important’ or ‘very important’ 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2008 2009 2010 2011 Figure 13 Proportion of rural respondents indicating each more traditional communication type was ‘important’ or ‘very important’ 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Face to face contact Local leaders Village info centre Letters Face to face contact Local leaders Village info centre Letters 2008 2009 2010 2011 Trends in choice of communication mode We also asked respondents which means of communication they primarily used for the purposes of emergency communication, education, business, accessing government services, obtaining news and weather, and making social connections.
As shown in Figure 14 and Figure 15 below, most primary modes of communication remained fairly stable across the three survey years.

Two exceptions were face-to-face contact, which showed a considerable increase from 2008 to 2009 before levelling out, and phone use, which showed a considerable decrease from 2008 to 2009, before increasing again slightly.
These patterns may be attributable to many of the 2008 respondents saying they used ‘phones and other’ modes of communication, in roughly equal amounts; it is likely that they also used face-to-face contact as a fi rst or second choice for many of the communication purposes asked about.
In support of this postulate, across the seven reasons for communicating that the survey asked about, on average across the three survey years the most frequently cited primary means of communication was face-to-face, followed by radio and phones.

However, preferences for communication mode did differ slightly for each communication purpose.
For instance, across all three survey years phones were consistently the most commonly preferred primary communication means for emergencies, and radio was consistently preferred for obtaining news and weather information.

Although face-to-face contact was important for all communication purposes, it was most consistently preferred for obtaining farming and business information.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 97 ] Figure 14 Average proportion of respondents indicating that more traditional forms of communication were their primary choice of communication across various purposes 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Face to face contact Local leaders Newspaper Letters 2008 2009 2010 2011 Figure 15 Average proportion of respondents indicating that more technology-driven forms of communication were their primary choice of communication across various purposes 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Radio Phone Television Internet 2008 2009 2010 2011 Perceived beneﬁ ts of telecommunications In each year of the survey, we asked respondents whether they thought that phones have had a benefi cial impact in their lives over the past two years.
Specifi cally, we asked them to indicate whether phones had any infl uence in the past two years on various indicators of their economic wellbeing, their social connections, and their access to services and information.

As the following fi gures illustrate, the proportion of respondents who agreed that phones had been infl uential (in either minor or major ways) in each of these areas varied signifi cantly from year to year.63 There was no uniform trend in this variation.
However, what the changing levels of infl uence across the three survey years appears to show is how increased telephony has changing impacts over time.
In the initial period after access has increased, for example, big improvements in the ease of checking on product availability before travelling were noticed by many respondents (see 2008 data in Figure 16).64 However, in later years, increasingly fewer respondents indicated that phones had recently been helpful in this way (see 2009 and 2011 data in Figure 16), likely because they had become accustomed to the new technology, and the benefi ts they received from it had been consolidated into their everyday lives.
63 Due to different protocols for survey execution and data entry across the three years of the survey, for the purposes of these cross-year analyses any missing data has been recorded as ‘not applicable’.

Thus, the percentages reported here are calculated as a proportion of all potential respondents for each year, not the proportion of respondents for whom data was non-missing.
As a consequence, results for 2011 reported in this section may differ slightly from results reported elsewhere in the report, where our focus was on non- missing data.

64 Astute readers of our 2008 report may note that the data on perceived impact here differs from that in the 2008 report.

This is because of a coding error that led to mis-reporting of results in the earlier report, but which has now been corrected.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 98 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Figure 16 Percentage of respondents each year who said that phones had ‘inﬂ uence’ or ‘large inﬂ uence’ on various types of economic beneﬁ ts 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2008 Faster connection Ability to check product availability before travel Less travel time Lower travel costs Increased ﬁnancial support Less time needed for business activities Easier organising transport and logistics Increased sales Reduced business costs 2009 2010 2011 Such ‘accustomisation’ effect may also explain the patterns seen in Figure 17 and Figure 18: over time, fewer respondents believed there had been additional benefi ts from mobile telephony in terms of increasing social support and increasing access to key services such as schools and colleges, health services, and emergency services.
This is an understandable change, but also suggests that there are opportunities to further improve people’s access to some key services by better adapting these services to new technological innovations.
Figure 17 Percentage of respondents each year who said that phones had inﬂ uence’ or ‘large inﬂ uence’ on various types of social network beneﬁ ts 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2008 Making more frequent contact with family and friends Getting increased social support Improving group co-ordination 2009 2010 2011 In contrast, other types of benefi ts from mobile phones may be recognised more slowly, as the new technology begins to lead to longer-term behavioural change.
For instance, looking back at the data on economic benefi ts, increased sales may be one benefi t that manifests more slowly over time, as market behaviour shifts (see Figure 16 above).

In a similar vein, access to many specialised services may only begin to increase after people begin accessing these services by phone, rather than in person.
As shown in Figure 19 below, more respondents in 2011 than in 2009 and 2008 perceived phones to have provided benefi ts in terms of getting information about crops, new products, legal rights, and tides.

Because these services are less likely to be accessed on a regular basis (in contrast with key services), the benefi ts that increased telephony provides may be more slowly realised—in other words, people may only have been using their phones for these purposes more recently.
Figure 18 Percentage of respondents each year who said that phones had some inﬂ uence on various types of key service access beneﬁ ts 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2008 2009 2010 2011 Figure 19 Percentage of respondents each year who said that phones had some inﬂ uence on various types of specialised service access beneﬁ ts 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2008 2009 2010 2011 Getting quick help in emergencies Getting better health access Getting information about schools and colleges Getting more public record information Talking with government departments Getting information about subsidies Understand and meet legal requirements Getting information about crop management Getting information about new products Getting information about tides Increasing awareness of land/water rights Getting information about livestock management Getting access to professional vets etc.
Nevertheless, in interpreting the data on changes in perceived phone benefi ts over time, it is also important to be mindful that benefi ts are often more salient when they relate to areas that refl ect community and personal priorities.

For instance, Figure 18 above indicates a decrease over time in the perceived benefi ts of phones in helping to understand and meet legal requirements, and to get information about subsidies.
This may not be so much because phones have somehow lost their utility, but because people have had less need of these services (they are no longer priorities), or have had their access to them restricted (e.g.

there may be fewer subsidies available).


Conversely, the increase in the perceived benefi ts of phones for getting information about new products and about crop management may be because commercial developments have led to these services becoming new community priorities, or because more information is now available for access.
[ 99 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 100 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy APPENDIX A Summary of small- medium business interviews Below, we summarise the key fi ndings from our interviews with small to medium business representatives.
Interview sites and participants Small to medium business interviews consisted of 13 female and 18 male business representatives (either owners or senior employees).
Although we had intended to have equal numbers of male and female interviewees (16 of each), we had fewer numbers of females for two reasons: one the recordings for Chapuis East was not clear and was excluded, and in two other of the sites (Atangurua/Atabulu and Freshwota 1) there were no women available to talk who owned or worked for a small business.

In those areas, two male business representatives were interviewed instead.
Types of activities The businesses that our participants owned or managed varied across the survey sites.

The most common activities involved retail (16 businesses), including general trade stores and retail of fresh fi sh, fuel, clothes (e.g.

second hand clothes), TVL and Digicel credit cards, and automobile parts.
Other participants’ business activities included automobile mechanic workshops, rental properties, guest houses, transport businesses (bus, taxis and public land and sea transport), kava farming for sales and kava bars, baking, cattle farming, copra production and sales, peanut production and sales, sandalwood, agents for lobster farming and sales (e.g.

to sell to Port Vila agents), agents for production of local artefacts and handicrafts, and tourist related income activities (e.g.

stalls).
stalls).

Single or multiple business focus Many business representatives focused on more than one type of business.

For example, the female business owner in Vetumboso village owns a cattle farm, a trade store, and a produce stall, and also on-sells dried copra from the producers, and sells some kava juice as a small side business.

A male business owner in Port Olry operates fresh fi sh, trade, and fuel retail outlets.

A total of 15 interviewees were involved in more than one business.
These were businesses in Lenakel, Lamnatu, Umej, Lamen Bay, Ngala, Freshwota, Blacksands, Vetumboso, Port Olry, Atangura/Atabulu and Unpongkor.

Gender dimensions The 31 men and women interviewed either owned the businesses themselves or were in partnership with other businessmen or businesswomen or were co-owners with their husbands or wives.

The representatives were all engaged in the business for a salary, so the small business also created employment for other locals.
Of the 13 female interviewees, most of them (the 11 from Lenakel, Lamnatu, Anelghowhat Umej, Ngala, Blacksands, Sola, Vetumboso, Port Olry, Port Narvin, Unpongkor) were owners of the businesses, while the other two (from Lamen Bay and Levetlis) were representatives looking after the business.

The representative (store assistant) from Lamen Bay was a relative of the trade store owners (husband and wife) and the business representative from Levetlis was the secretary of the Women’s club handicraft business.
In addition, only one woman from Lenakel part-owned the business with extended family (her husband’s brother and his wife).

Three women (from Port Olry, Port Narvin and Unpongkor) co-owned and managed their business with their husbands, while seven women (from Lamnatu, Anelghowhat, Umej, Blacksands, Sola and Vetumboso) owned the business and managed the business either themselves and sometimes with or without the help of their husbands.
Businesses that the women were engaged in included: retail shops, fuel station (e.g.

Lenakel seaside fuel station), copra production and purchase, duty-free and handicrafts shops and stalls and guesthouses.

Most of these women own or manage some sort of retail (trade store, fuel, Digicel/TVL refi lls) business.

Four of the seven women have other small side businesses, apart from the retail business.
For example the woman interviewed in Ngala had a retail shop and also produced and sold peanuts (to markets in Port Vila).

The fuel station owner in Lenakel also runs a tyre service and land transport (taxi) service.

In addition to retail, two women (in Anelghowhat and Umej) were engaged in duty free businesses to sell to the many cruise ships (e.g.

Pacifi c Pearls and P&O) often visiting the island.
This business mainly involves buying and selling Asian arts and crafts, as well as clothes from the Port Vila duty free shop, to incoming tourists to Mystery Island.

Only one woman (from Port Olry, in Santo) operated a tourist guesthouse.

The two women business representatives from Erromango (Unpongkor) and Pentecost (Levetlis) were involved in local handicrafts business such as production and sales of woven mats and baskets.
The business representative from Levetlis is the secretary to the Pentecost women’s business club.

This club comprises women with similar interests in production and sales of handicrafts.

As for the men, 14 out of the 18 business interviewees (from Lamnatu, Anelghowhat, Umej, Lamen Bay, Freshwota 1, Blacksands, Vetumboso, Chapuis East, Port Olry, Port Narvin Unpongkor, Atangura/Atabulu (two male businesses) and Levetlis) were business owners.
Two interviewees were part owners, one was a manager for his daughter’s business, and one was supervising the business.

Most men interviewed were in retail types of businesses (11 in Lenakel, Lamnatu, Anelghowhat, Umej, Lamen Bay, Ngala, Blacksands, Port Olry, Unpongkor, Atangura/Atabulu and Levetlis).

From these 11, seven also owned other smaller businesses.

These included lobster breeding and harvest; cattle farming, copra and sandalwood production; guesthouse owners; and automobile workshops.
[ 101 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Motivation for small business There were varied reasons for starting small businesses across the research locations.
These included: • Experiences from working in other similar businesses • Seeing the niche to start a business • Long travel distance to nearest shop (overcoming convenience) or being close to the centre of a community (profi ting from convenience) • Need to support the family, e.g.
pay children’s school fees, pay for food, and pay bills • Desire to utilise skills and knowledge gained from short business training • Demand for services from the communities (this was commonly stated in the very remote island of Vanua Lava in Torba).

The women, especially from Anelghowhat, Lenakel and Lamnatu (Tanna), commented they had been doing nothing and often asked their husbands for money and wanted to become independent by starting their own business to reduce reliance on their husbands.
The women in Sola and Vetumboso (Vanua Lava) were inspired by the geographical isolation of the place and lack of services to the area and the need to support their families.
Business value chain In the tables on the following pages, we summarise the main narratives relating to the business value chain for suppliers (Table A1), distribution (Table A2), quality control (Table A3), and business income and costs (Table A4) under eight main business types: retail (stores, fuel, fi sh and mobile credits); handicrafts; duty-free; kava; guesthouse; automobile repairs; copra production and sales; and lobster and fi sheries.
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, Table A2 Distribution Type of business Ways to receive inputs/outputs Forms of Assistance [ 105 ] and forms of transport) Use sea (ships and boats), air (aircraft) and land transport (vehicles) for all types of retails businesses Mostly send to Port Vila using ships Mostly received by planes via Tanna and then via boats to the local stalls Transportation to suppliers and markets via ships and then vehicles from the wharves Mainly family, relatives and community members Family, relatives, business associates and main agents Local community women leaders and the pilots Family and relatives and paid assistants Retail Handicrafts Duty-Free Kava root suppliers and ready mix makers Guest house Inputs delivered mainly by ships, planes and vehicles Use personal vehicle and less often by bus Motor vehicle repair/ workshops Copra (suppliers) Output transportation uses mainly Lobster and ﬁ sh agents ships and trucks/vehicles Mostly use aeroplanes and boats Table A3 Quality Control Type of business Operate any quality control Who checks quality Retail Yes, but not using a formalised system Mostly business owners Handicrafts Yes, but not using a formalised system Mostly business owners Duty-Free Kava root suppliers and ready mix makers Yes, but not using a formalised system Yes, but not using a formalised system Mostly business owners Mostly business owners Guest house Yes, but not using a formalised system Mostly business owners Motor vehicle repair/ workshops Yes, but not using a formalised system Mostly business owners Copra (supplies) Yes, but not using a formalised system Mostly business owners Lobster and ﬁ sh agents Yes, but not using a formalised system Mostly business owners Family, relatives and community members Paid employees Family, relatives and community members Paid local employees, agent/business partner How they check on quality Check on damage (breakages, open cartons, leakages), expiry dates, taste of food, proper shelving and so forth.
Freshness of ﬁ sh (check the eyes/ﬁ rmness).

Ensure adequate ice for ﬁ sh.

Try to produce quality that can meet the satisfaction of the customers.

Check on damage and goods that were not ordered.

Ensure quality of the kava juice mixing process.

Mixture should not be too watery.

Roots must be properly washed, cleaned before grinding and strained into clean utensils like buckets.

For the stems/roots, they make sure to harvest only the mature ones.
Look at hygiene and cleanliness, decorations of both inside and outside.

Ensure quality by ordering or purchasing only genuine parts from genuine and well-known motor dealers like Toyota agents.

If purchasing green coconut meat, ensure the meat is thoroughly dried to the standard.

If purchasing dry coconut, ensure coconut are dried to the standard the buyers want.

Lobsters must be matured for harvest and live.
NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 106 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Table A4 Business income and cost Type of business If sell products at wholesale price Charge for products Retail None Sell at retailers’ price Handicrafts Sell at agreed producers’ and customer’s price Duty-Free Sell at retail price Kava root suppliers and ready mix makers Retail price for ready – mix juice and kava roots Guest house Does not apply Motor vehicle repair/ workshops Does not apply Copra (suppliers) Does not apply Lobster and ﬁ sh agents Retail Charges per retail item for a store item, fuel, and ﬁ sh are based on certain % mark- ups on purchase price.
Cost of transport, electricity, bank fees, cost of losses, and cost of labour (assistance) are added to the mark up.

Price of items varies.

Price of fuel e.g.

about 1,000vt per gallon (4 litres) of diesel.

Price of ﬁ sh is 350vt per kilo.

Mobile credits vary.

In some places, additional proﬁ t margin is added.

Charges are based on an agreed price between them (suppliers) and buyers.

Charges are determined in the same way as the retail businesses.

Root sellers charge per kilo.


Charge per kilo varies.

Prices depend on supply and demand.

Kava juice – in town usually charges a shell between 50-100vt.

In the islands is 20vt per shell and this is almost a standard charge at the kava bars.

The rates for accommodation and food are based on expenses and proﬁ t margins.

In very remote islands like Vanua Lava, guesthouse accommodation plus food was 2,500vt per person per night, while in Port Olry was 1,500vt per person per night.
Charge for a completed vehicle repair is based on the cost of the part(s) and labour and overheads like electricity and telecommunications.

Based on standard price set by Vanuatu Commodities Marketing Board (VCMB) for those purchasing from local copra producers.

Normally farmers put their own charges based on paid employees, items and equipment for nursery, cost of transport and telecommunication.
Business cost – form of payment to suppliers All retail: Three types: (i) Bank accounts (National Bank of Vanuatu), (i) Direct payments (cash/cheque on delivery/receipt) (iii) Credit Does not apply– end up paying only transport cost?

Cash delivered by hand via the Air Vanuatu Pilots For kava bars, owners pay cash directly to kava root sellers from the islands or from local markets.

Or money is put into a relative’s account in the islands to purchase kava.

Direct payments made to shop owners for items.


For local food suppliers, form of payment is cash on delivery of requested items.

Direct cash payment Does not apply Does not apply [ 107 ] is used together with other common Business communication Mobile communication forms of communication such as face-to-face at different business circles or stages outlined above.
Mobile phones are mostly used at the ‘supply’ stage (to place orders with wholesalers or an agent or family members to send fuel drums and so forth) and distribution stages (to fi nd out about transport schedules and to arrange transportation with wholesalers, agents or families for the shipment of cargo through ship or by plane).
The majority of the 13 female business owners and representatives (in Port Olry (Guest house), Lenakel (fuel retail) Anelghowhat and Umej (tourist and duty free related business), Ngala (peanut production and sales to Port Vila and retail store), Vetumboso and Sola (retail shops, copra, cattle and kava bar), Port Narvin (TVL refi ll cards retail and other) Unpongkor (woven mats supplies to Port Vila for sale), Lamen Bay (retail store), Blacksands (kava juice and retail store), and Levetlis (woven mats and handicrafts supplies)) reported using mobile phones to conduct business.
Only one female business interviewee from Middle Bush did not use a mobile phone.

This is because her business (a mini trade store) is fairly newly-established and small, so for her orders she handpicks from a number of bigger shops by travelling into Lenakel herself and therefore does not need mobile communication.

All the male business owners and representatives reported using mobile phones to communicate in some stage of their business.
These included male interviewees from Lenakel (retail store, a bakery and Digicel refi ll), Middle Bush (trade store), Anelghowhat (tourist related and duty-free stalls and projects), Umej (trade store), Lamen Bay (trade store and boat transport services, Ngala (trade store), Freshwota 1 (automobile car parts, mechanical workshop and kava bar), Blacksands (trade store, rental property, bus owner, and bakery), Chapuis East (Kava bar), Port Olry (trade store, fresh fi sh and fuel retail), Port Narvin ( an agent for lobster farming and sales), Unpongkor (Sandalwood), Atangura/Atabulu (Copra producer), Atangura/Atabulu (fuel retail), Levetlis ( Store and fuel retail), Vetumboso ( kava roots sales and kava bar) and Sola (mini guesthouse).
Example account from a small to medium businesses (James John, Port Olry).

BUSINESS FOCUS I own a trade store and fuel and fresh ﬁ sh retail outlets.

I was motivated to commence these small business activities to earn additional income to support my family’s household needs, such as school fees for my young children, food for the family, electricity, and other needs.

I did not do any research before I started, but I attended few small business training sessions, which gave me some ideas and skills.
I have now tested and built on the skills I learnt in the training, and it’s working for me.

Business Value Chain—How John manages his business SUPPLIES For my store goods (basic food items, washing detergents and a few clothing items) and fuel retail supplies (petrol and diesel and boat engine oils), I get my supplies mostly at the Esah Corporation and different fuel deports in Luganville.

I have a fresh ﬁ sh retail market (with ice blocks to refrigerate ﬁ sh).
The ﬁ sh are NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy [ 108 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy supplied by the local ﬁ shermen from within Port Olry.

Ice block bags are purchased and transported from Luganville.
I don’t have a speciﬁ c supplier for fuel so I go to any fuel outlets in town because the price of fuel is almost the same everywhere.

I don’t use any strict selection process or criteria when ﬁ nding suppliers.

For retail goods, I just make order and go into Esah, as it is a well-known wholesaler.

I think Esah offers good wholesale prices for my supplies so I stick with this wholesale supplier.

It’s same for my fuel and fresh ﬁ sh suppliers.

They are all within close reach.


I do not have a formal system of doing orders; therefore all my retail is based on supply stock.

New orders are made as my supply stock reduces.

I usually go into town or contact Esah by phone when I want to place orders, make direct payments, and receive my next set of store and fuel retail stock.

As for the fresh ﬁ sh supply, I usually make arrangements with the ﬁ shermen to bring ﬁ sh whenever they have caught some.

I pay cash on delivery.


I also have to inform the ﬁ shermen if there is adequate ice blocks or not for the ﬁ sh as part of the order process.

DISTRIBUTION (WAYS OF RECEIVING INPUTS/PRODUCTS) Mostly I use road transport between Luganville and Port Olry for store items and fuel products.

Local ﬁ shermen deliver to me directly and are paid cash in hand.

My family (wife and uncle) provide the most assistance to my business operations.
The sealed road between Luganville and Port Olry is of a great help and enables easy access for my small business.

QUALITY CONTROL I check on overall quality.

I don’t have a standard way of checking.

But I look at quality by checking the price and things like damage (bends, breakage, open) and expiry dates of store products.

This is good for assuring the long-term trust of my customers, who I want to continue to come to use my services.
Since it’s a small village store and most of the food items stay for a month before they are sold out, I make sure the quality is high enough to match the price of goods.

For fuel, there is no need to check on quality.

For my ﬁ sh sometimes quality is a problem because I don’t have electricity for a fridge and just use ice block bags.

I ensure quality by checking the freshness, which I do by examining the eye of the ﬁ sh.
Second, I have to have more than enough ice blocks to keep the ﬁ sh fresh and in a consumable quality for a few days.

Sometimes on very hot days the ice melts fast and because we don’t have consistent electricity I have to pay for more ice bags.

CALCULATION OF BUSINESS CHARGES AND INCOME My prices on store items, fuel, and ﬁ sh are based on overall expenditure (costs) plus a modest proﬁ t mark-up.
For store and fuel items expenses include: wholesale price of items, cost of transport per cargo item and per fuel drum, and lighting/electricity at the store.

The cost of fresh ﬁ sh, ice blocks, transport and a small proﬁ t margin is used to work out the retail price of ﬁ sh.

My fuel sale price is 350vt per litre, and fresh ﬁ sh is 350vt per kilo.

BUSINESS COST/EXPENSES Major costs include transport, wholesale cost of fuel drums, store goods, ice for fresh ﬁ sh, and electricity.
Some speciﬁ c costs are passenger transport fares (1,000vt Port Olry-Luganville return), cargo charges for one fuel drum (1,500vt) and iceboxes and store boxes (100vt each) and cost of ad hoc assistance (1,000vt per person).

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION Most times I use mobile (Digicel) and face-to- face contact.

When I use mobile, I call rather than SMS or I go in personally and discuss or place my orders, make payments, and collect store and fuel items from Luganville suppliers and local ﬁ sh suppliers.
Less often, I use SMS.

Very little telecommunication is needed at the retail stages because my customers are my community members, so we interact face-to-face.

I make no more than two business calls per day, sometimes none.

I usually call wholesale suppliers (Esah Corporation) and local ﬁ shermen.

When I call the wholesale supplier, I call their TVL and Digicel mobile as well as their TVL ﬁ xed landline.
I spend about a 500vt per week on business communication, using my Digicel phone to call both TVL and Digicel numbers.

I do not use internet.

BUSINESS CONSTRAINTS RELATED TO PHONES I do not see cost of phones as a constraint.

It’s affordable to call from Digicel to Digicel, but I ﬁ nd credits runs out fast when I have to call TVL mobile and landline numbers.

I have no choice with Digicel, as it’s the only mobile phone service here.
TVL has not yet installed cell towers, but construction of the tower site has commenced.

There is no TVL landline.

The level of Digicel coverage is generally good; however, sometimes service is low or poor due to network problems.

Not having TVL seems like a limitation in that I cannot often call from my Digicel to TVL as it is expensive.

Due to cost, I am not able to make more TVL (both mobile and landline) calls or talk for long as my Digicel credit runs out fast.
If a TVL network were installed I would have two SIM cards (Digicel and TVL) and be able to talk more via Digicel–Digicel or TVL–TVL.

I think if landlines were also installed in the community that would give me a number of choices on the phones.

Right now, I have no choice but to use Digicel regardless of the price.

BUSINESS CONSTRAINTS RELATED TO ROADS I feel satisﬁ ed with our road system as it’s a newly built highway that runs from Luganville and ends right here.
But the biggest challenge or constraint to my business is the cost of road transportation.

The cost of delivering cargo, drums of fuel, and ice is very high.

I pay more for each cargo I put on a vehicle.

BUSINESS CONSTRAINTS RELATED TO ELECTRICITY We have access to electricity; however, the current level of service needs to improve.

Currently electricity supply from the UNELCO community generator is inconsistent because it comes on only from 5 to 10 pm and 5 to 7 am.
The cost is affordable, but timing is a constraint to my business.

My business does not get a 24-hour power supply and this affects my plans to have refrigerated goods like chicken and ﬁ sh.

If we had more electricity, I would no longer have to pay a lot on ice blocks for my ﬁ sh retail market.

BUSINESS CONSTRAINTS RELATED TO SHIPPING We don’t have shipping services and I don’t see the need for ship services as we now have a very good road.
Transportation of garden food for market, copra, and retail items are only done by road.

[ 109 ] NET EFFECTS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET IN VANUATU Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy Paciﬁ c Institute of Public Policy | PMB 9034, Port Vila, VANUATU | Tel: +678 29842 | Email: pipp@paciﬁ cpolicy.org | www.paciﬁ cpolicy.org ISBN 978-982-527-003-4