Mobile phones and the promises of connectivity: Interrogating the Role of Information, Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Marketisation Asha Susan Titus A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy of The Australian National University July 2019 1 I hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my own investigation, and where I have drawn on the work of others, due acknowledgement has been made. The text is no longer than 60,000 words. Asha Titus 2 Mobile phones and the promises of connectivity: Interrogating the Role of Information, Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Marketisation Abstract This research investigates the role of ICTs (mobile phones) in economic development particularly in the Papua New Guinean coffee and fresh produce value chains. It aims to interrogate the promises and unwavering optimism attached to the ‘ICT revolution’ by examining the effects of ICTs on economic practices and the extent to which communication and network integration will be a driver of development. Following the deregulation of the telecommunications sector in 2007, considerable attention has been paid to the digital transformation in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands and the unprecedented growth of mobile phone and social media use. PNG’s mobile phone penetration has increased exponentially from approximately 2% to over 48.6% in just over ten years (from 2005 to 2016 - World Bank 2017). Media commentators have noted with delight that there are now more Pacific Islanders with mobile phones than bank accounts and that in PNG alone, internet access from mobile phones is forecast to increase to about 50 per cent of the population in the near future (UNESCAP 2006, Beschorner 2008, SPC 2012). Much expectancy and promise has already been attached to the future impacts of such increased connectivity as World Bank Economists postulate that a 10% improvement in Internet penetration leads to an increase in GDP of up to of 1.5%; while 10% increase in mobile penetration can translate into a 0.81% increase in growth (Qiang et al. 2009). These projections are mainly premised on the assumption that increased connectivity will facilitate better access to current information about market prices and reduce price dispersion; producing savings in time, transport and search costs. Furthermore, ICTs could directly link small scale producers to buyer’s markets by weeding out ‘rent seeking’ brokers and middlemen in the value chain through a process referred to as ‘disintermediation’. Using case studies from key regional economic sectors, this thesis interrogates if such claims are borne out on the ground and tests if information infrastructure is necessarily going to lead to more openness, equality and an all-encompassing ‘digital provide’ (Jensen 2007). 3 Contents Abstract................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................ 5 List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................................. 6 1 Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the Pacific Region: the promises of connectivity as a tool of development ................................................................................................................................................ 7 1.1 State of the field: Dearth of Research into ICTs in Papua New Guinea and the region ...................... 11 1.2 Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................................................... 15 1.2.1 Development Informatics ............................................................................................................... 18 1.2.2 Mobile Phone Coverage and Producer Markets .............................................................................. 22 1.2.3 Market Structure, Trading Practices and Discontinuous Information ............................................. 24 1.2.4 Digital Disintermediation ............................................................................................................... 28 1.3 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 29 1.4 Chapter Overview ............................................................................................................................... 30 2 Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 32 Case Selection Rationale .............................................................................................................................. 35 Coffee: The Classic Buyer Driven Value Chain ........................................................................................... 35 Fresh Produce Trade ..................................................................................................................................... 37 Village profiles: ............................................................................................................................................ 38 3 ‘Relational Coffee’ and the Mobile Phone ................................................................................................... 43 3. 1 Mediated Communication and Space ............................................................................................. 44 3. 2 Embeddedness of Economic Behaviour ......................................................................................... 57 4 Digital Disintermediation and the Social Role of the Namelman ................................................................. 68 4.1 Seeing Like a Smallholder Farmer ................................................................................................. 70 4.2 Impersonal information and the affective ties that bind ...................................................................... 75 4.3 Middlebuyers and the Social Organisation of Trade .......................................................................... 79 5 Information, arbitrage and efficiency: Mobiles and the circulation of price information ............................. 84 5.1 Arbitrage and Price Setting ................................................................................................................. 86 5.2 Coffee, the Classic Buyer Driven Chain: The Price Setting Context .............................................. 88 5.3 ICT based Development Interventions in the Coffee Sector: Information Delivery and Access .... 98 6 Information, Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the Fresh Produce trade: Imagined Affordances, mobile solutions and data for development? ...................................................................................................... 106 6.1 The Formal and Informal Fresh Produce trade.................................................................................. 109 6.3 MOMIS (Mobile Market Information Service) in the Fresh Produce Sector .................................... 115 6.4 Migration of Administrative databases online: Data for development, the future? ........................... 125 6.4.1 CASE STUDY: Mobile based reporting – Workflow and Organisational changes...................... 127 6.5 Conclusion: From an ‘ICT revolution in the digital islands’ to a data revolution? ........................... 130 7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 136 References .......................................................................................................................................................... 143 4 Acknowledgements It has been a rare privilege to conduct fieldwork in Papua New Guinea and hear the stories of coffee farmers, intermediaries, traders, local exporters and fresh produce growers. I would like to thank and acknowledge the generosity of the men and women in the communities visited for their willingness to participate in the research and include me in their lifeworlds. This work was conducted with the help of an Australian Government Research Training Program Domestic Scholarship and a Department of Pacific Affairs fieldwork grant. It benefitted greatly from the guidance and support of my supervisory panel. My sincere thanks to Asso. Prof. Richard Eves for introducing me to the vast and exciting world of Melanesian Anthropology and Dr. Sarah Logan for her enthusiasm for digital media and encouragement in getting this project off the ground. Much of the data collection was done while working as a researcher on an ACIAR project. I am greatly indebted to colleagues for their camaraderie and insights from carrying out extended fieldwork in remote parts of the Asia Pacific region. While international development research aimed at improving livelihoods and food security is critical, there are a range of challenges associated with living for extended periods of time in the ‘networked peripheries’ of the Global South. I am greatly indebted to the following members of the Research for Development and INGO network for facilitating introductions, sharing working papers and ensuring my