Connecting Asia's Poor through the "Budget Telecom Network Model": Innovations, Challenges and Opportunities

Mobile access is widespread in many of the least developed countries (LDCs). Operators have managed to provide affordable voice connectivity, even to the poor within these markets for substantially low costs. They have achieved this through a series of technological and service-process innovations. This paper explains how mobile operators in certain LDCs have been able to provide affordable voice connectivity through such innovations, and formalizes what is known as the "Budget telecom network model." It also identifies the challenges and opportunities to similarly providing data services to such market segments.