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Contrary to belief, women don’t chinwag on phone

A study conducted by LIRNEasia on financially constrained people who earn below $100 a month in India and Sri Lanka has upset the theory that women used their phones for chatting.

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NEW DELHI: If you thought women used their phones for chatting and men use it for serious business, think again.

A study conducted by LIRNEasia on financially constrained people who earn below $100 a month in India and Sri Lanka has upset this theory, according to Rohan Samarajiva, executive director, LIRNEasia.

‘Telecom use on a shoestring’, a study involving over 3,000 people across India and Sri Lanka, indicated that gender didn’t matter when it came to talking on the phone. Mumbaikars were also among other Indians who were interviewed for the study.

Samarajiva said the report was a pilot study and that soon this Sri Lanka-based non-profit research organisation would track telecom spending patterns in four to six countries in Asia.

The study also found that people are willing to spend a considerable amount of their incomes on phone. For instance, around 64% of mobile users spend at least $4 per month on mobile communication even when their monthly income is below $100. While the thumb rule is that not more than 2-3% of income is used on telecom, this survey throws up a conservative estimate of at least 4% monthly income being spent on telecommunication. The percentage was even higher in Jaffna (Sri Lanka), where one-third of mobile users were spending over 12% of their monthly income on telecommunication, much of which is spent on international calls. This is despite the fact that 70% of mobile users found the cost of mobile services high. Interestingly, almost two-third of people surveyed didn’t even own the phone that they use. Rather, they depend on shared phones and PCOs.

On gender pattern, it pointed out, “There is extensive literature that supports the thesis that women and men differ significantly in their use of telecom services; women are said to use the phone more than men, spending more time on the phone, and more for ‘relationship maintenance’ purposes rather than instrumental purposes.” 

However, the findings in both India and Sri Lanka show no significant differences on these factors other than for a few, the study added.

On the whole, respondents were found to be using the phone more for relationship maintenance or for keeping in touch rather than instrumental purposes like business transactions. One-third of Indian mobile users surveyed were using second-hand phones, the survey said.

However, LIRNEasia clarified that the study is not representative of the two countries as it’s based on interview with a few thousand people of a certain income group. Of the total sample size of 3,199, over 2,000 were from India and the remaining from Sri Lanka. The Indian localities from where people were interviewed in India included Cuttack, Dehradun, Gorakhpur, Kasar god, Mumbai, Neemuch and Sivaganga.

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