factors such as gender, income level, location (urban/rural), education level, price of mobile data packages, price of internet-enabled phones, and so on; and (3) perspective factors shaped by the institutional environment, culture, and network effects.

# **3. Data**

In 2017–18, ICT policy think tanks in the Global South, including RIA (Research ICT Africa), LIRNEasia (Learning Initiative for Network Economies in Asia), and DIRSI (el Diálogo Regional sobre la Sociedad de la Información / Regional Dialogue on the Information Society), coordinated a global initiative, conducting household surveys to collect information about ICT access and usage at household and individual levels. Ten African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda), six Asian<sup>8</sup> countries (India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Cambodia), and six Latin American countries (Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Peru) were covered (see Annex 1 for more survey methodology details).

Going beyond other microlevel data sets such as the Living Standards Measurement Study and the Global Findex database, this data set collects rich, in-depth information on ICT access and usage from the demand side. It provides valuable information on mobile phone ownership and usage, internet access and usage, social media activities, digital finance, participation in the gig/sharing economy, as well as the reasons for engaging in those ICT-enabled activities. The surveys are nationally representative, and the data can be disaggregated on the basis of gender, age, location (urban or rural), and income level.

Unfortunately, there is no direct question on mobile internet adoption in the surveys. However, such usage can be captured through combining information gained through multiple survey questions regarding whether respondents: (1) have used the internet or not, (2) own a mobile phone, and (3) whether the type of mobile phone they own allows internet access. An individual is counted as using mobile internet if he or she has used the internet and also owns an internet-enabled phone.<sup>9</sup> Results show that Latin American countries have the highest rate of mobile internet adoption: 65.6 percent of the total population. The rural and urban divide is significant across all regions (figure 1), especially in Africa, where the adoption rate among urban residents is more than twice that among rural residents. Asian countries in the sample have the widest gender gap: only 8.4 percent of females used mobile internet in 2017. Those who are at the bottom 40 percent of the national income distribution have a lower adoption rate across regions, while the gap is minimal in Latin America.

**Figure 1. Mobile internet adoption, by subgroup, across regions (% of population) a. Rural vs. urban and male vs. female b. Poor vs. not and educated vs. not**

> 8 The majority of the Asian countries covered in the sample are in South Asia.

> 9 Internet-enabled phones include smartphones and feature phones. Admittedly, this constructed variable cannot completely rule out cases of individuals owning an internet-enabled phone who in fact accessed the internet through Wi-Fi–enabled fixed broadband. However, data from Telegeography show that household fixed-broadband penetration is low (at 13.5 percent) across countries in the sample; thus, such cases should be minimal. The estimated rate is as low as 3.6 percent among African countries, and 7.7 percent among the Asian countries covered.

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