Barrantes and Galperin's paper opens this issue with a detailed analysis of mobile charges in selected Latin American countries, typified by high levels of poverty and wide disparities in disposable income. The paper is written against a background of exponential increases in worldwide mobile penetration. Such increases are particularly evident in the emerging economies of South America, Africa and South East Asia. The key question on which they focus is that of asking, 'how affordable are mobile services for the poor?' Such affordability-unsurprisingly-is an important predictor of mobile penetration. Current tariff structures are revealed as having a major inhibiting effect on service consumption by the poorest sectors in society. Of interest, too, is the related issue as to which strategies the poor can use to control mobile expenditure. Are shared service models (e.g. Grameen phone) temporary fixes or long-term solutions to the problem of encouraging the development of universal service in such areas?
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