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Whose call is it? Targeting universal service programs to low-income households' telecommunications preferences

Author

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  • Hauge, Janice A.
  • Chiang, Eric P.
  • Jamison, Mark A.

Abstract

Do universal service programs give customers what they want? This paper uses new survey data to study low-income households' telecommunications choices in the United States and to consider the degree to which such households' preferences are addressed by existing universal service programs. The research shows that households that choose only one form of telecommunications increasingly are choosing a mobile phone, while those that choose to have both modes of communications are shifting their usage towards their mobile phones. These trends are less pronounced among higher-income households. One implication for universal service policy is that traditional subsidies for landline phones are increasingly ineffective in reaching low-income households such subsidies are designed to help; subsidies for acquiring and using mobile phone services might be more beneficial to low-income households than traditional subsidies for landline phones.

Suggested Citation

  • Hauge, Janice A. & Chiang, Eric P. & Jamison, Mark A., 0. "Whose call is it? Targeting universal service programs to low-income households' telecommunications preferences," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(3-4), pages 129-145, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:33:y::i:3-4:p:129-145
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    Cited by:

    1. Jayakar, Krishna & Park, Eun-A, 2019. "Reforming the lifeline program: Regulatory federalism in action?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 67-75.
    2. Dolente, Cosimo & Galea, John Joseph & Leporelli, Claudio, 2010. "Next Generation Access and Digital Divide: Opposite Sides of the Same Coin?," 21st European Regional ITS Conference, Copenhagen 2010: Telecommunications at new crossroads - Changing value configurations, user roles, and regulation 9, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    3. Berg, Sanford V. & Jiang, Liangliang & Lin, Chen, 2011. "Incentives for cost shifting and misreporting: US rural universal service subsidies, 1991–2002," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 287-295.
    4. Holt, Lynne & Galligan, Mary, 2013. "Mapping the field: Retrospective of the federal universal service programs," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 773-793.

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