Natural obsolescence of village phone
Sara Boettiger, Kentaro Toyama, Rezwana Abed · 2012
Grameen Telecom's famous Village Phone program in Bangladesh has been hailed as an innovative model of ICT-based international development, and promoted by international aid agencies in a wide range of developing countries. Despite implementation at scale, and success both as a business model and in its impact on the poor, the Village Phone programs appear time-limited. Decline of Village Phone model is driven in part by mobile penetration obviating the need for a specialized service selling phone usage, but there are other intertwined factors.