This page has general references about the affordability of communications in developing countries and developed countries. Some more specific references are on the reports page
Developing countries
Prices and costs
Telecom Demand: Measures for Improving Affordability: an introduction to a project about improving telecommunications affordability along with access
Measuring affordability of telecoms: a discussion of using household expenditure statistics
Mobile Operators: their contribution to universal service and public access (Intelecon, 2003): comparisons of mobile rates in 17 developing countries
Internet prices in Africa. A comparative study (by Olof Hesselmark, 2003): comparisons of internet use costs and incomes in 35 African countries
Telecommunications and the poor (by José Ricardo Melo for the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility Conference, 2000): information about Latin American use
Intelecon toolkit: a primer showing how to make rural fixed lines profitable with assumptions about affordability
Usage
Completing the revolution: the challenge of rural telephony in Africa (PANOS Institute, 2004)
VSAT Case Studies (Nigeria, Algeria and Tanzania) (by the LINK Centre for IDRC, CATIA and GVF, 2004)
Innovative Demand Models for Telecommunications Services (by CTO and Gamos for DFID, 2003): the results of user research in Uganda, Botswana and Ghana
Cyber Cafe Users Survey (by Archway Technology Management for the Cyber Cafe Operators Association of Kenya, 2003)
Ensuring affordability of basic service in PHARE countries: an examination of how to keep services affordable during rapid rebalancing of tariffs
Telecommunication Services in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Analysis of Access and Use in the Southern Volta Region in Ghana (by Romeo Bertolini, 2002): unavailable online but summarised in a publication list entry of the Centre for Development Research in the University of Bonn
A Telecommunications Universal Service Policy Framework for Defining Categories of Needy People in South Africa (by DRA Development for MTN and SATRA, 1998): unavailable online but quoted in Telecommunication Policy for Women and Development (by the Link Centre for the Development Summit, TELCOM 99 + INTERACTIVE 99, 1999)
Examples of special telephone tariffs for affordability
Telkom South Africa PrepaidFone pre-paid fixed line tariff
Affordability of other utility services
Can the Poor Pay for Power? The Affordability of Electricity in South East Europe (by IPA Energy Consulting for EBRD, 2003)
Household Affordability, Chapter 5 of Water Prices in CEE and CIS countries (by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency for EBRD, 2002)
Affordability in general
Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research: links to web sites in the UK and elsewhere
Callineb readings on affordability: links to documents mainly from the US
Developed countries
Prices and costs
Towards defining and measuring affordability of utilities - a discussion paper: a view of how to define and measure affordability with several indicators
Evolution of the performance of network industries providing services of general interest, Annex 3 of Functioning of EU product and capital markets (European Commission, 2002): assessments of affordability in telecommunications and other industries
The Economics of Telecommunications Prices and Costs, Appendix B of Telecommunications Regulation Handbook (World Bank, 2000): information about price and income elasticities of demand
Affordability: Explicit statements of complex goals (by Mark Cooper for the Benton Foundation and the Consumer Federation of America)
The Control of Communication (by Leslie Haddon for Telecom Italia, 1998)
Usage
Free speech? (OECD, 2003): a discussion of the changing proportions of consumer spending
Telecoms usage amongst low income groups (Oftel, 2003): results of research into high phone use by low income groups
Homes without a fixed line phone (Oftel, 2000): results of research into households having no fixed line phones
Poverty and social exclusion in Britain (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2000): results of research into consumer spending priorities
Examples of special telephone tariffs for affordability
Maltacom Easyline rent-free fixed line tariff
BT In Contact Plus restricted-call fixed line tariff
BT Light User Scheme low-usage fixed line tariff