New cellular networks in Malawi
Subtitle: correlates of service rollout and network performance
By: Dimitrios Batzilis ... [et al.].
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 16616; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 16616.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "Cellular technologies have become increasingly important in the developing world; infrastructure for mobile networks has expanded dramatically over the past two decades giving access to remote areas without previous phone service.  Despite this expansion, relatively little is known about the correlates of the rollout of cellular phone networks or the performance of these networks.  Since the rollout of cellular networks has been largely spearheaded by an active private sector in telecommunications, how demand-side and cost-side factors affect the timing of rollout and quality of network service is of particular interest.  In this paper we use new data to estimate the correlates of cellular phone access and network performance across rural areas of Malawi.  We compile a dataset which combines administrative data of the entire cellular network of Malawi with geographic and Census data to describe the rollout and the performance of the cellular network measured by the dropped call rate.  We find that both demand-side and cost-side factors are important in determining the timing of network access, while demand-side factors appear most relevant for the dropped call rate, one metric of network quality"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 4/5/2011.

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