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Does affordable Internet promote maternal and child healthcare access? Evidence from a post-telecommunication market disruption period in India

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  • Krishnatri, Vinayak
  • Vellakkal, Sukumar

Abstract

Indian telecommunication market witnessed a distortion in 2016 due to a late-entrant firm's disruptive market entry with deep-discounted pricing; however, Internet penetration marked a considerable increase. Using nationally representative cross-sectional data from the post-market disruption period and an instrumental variable strategy for identification, we estimate the impact of the Internet on the uptake of maternal and child healthcare services. We find that the Internet improves the uptake of antenatal care, institutional delivery, postnatal care, and modern contraceptive use. A series of robustness checks confirm consistent and similar findings. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the increased affordability of the Internet had a more profound impact among socioeconomically disadvantaged cohorts. Our findings imply that universal Internet penetration can enhance uptake of healthcare in low- and middle-income countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Krishnatri, Vinayak & Vellakkal, Sukumar, 2024. "Does affordable Internet promote maternal and child healthcare access? Evidence from a post-telecommunication market disruption period in India," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(10).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:48:y:2024:i:10:s0308596124001691
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2024.102872
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Market disruption; Internet penetration; Maternal and child healthcare services; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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