At the end of 2012, infoDev released a study, conducted by iHub Research and Research Solutions Africa, looking at how mobile phones are being used by those at the economic base of the pyramid in Kenya (living on less than US$2.5 per day). The study, funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and UKaid, covered urban and rural areas of 6 districts in Kenya. Its findings are not nationally representative, but comparisons with representative surveys show no significant differences for key indicators, such as phone ownership.
Of the many findings revealed in the report, one particular behavior captured a lot of attention - the fact that 1 in 5 respondents interviewed had foregone some usual expenditure in order to reload their mobile phone with credit.
Read more at: http://blogs.worldbank.org/ic4d/understanding-foregoing-behavior-at-the-base-of-the-pyramid-in-kenya
