Bringing visibility to rural users in Cote d'Ivoire

Cellular networks are often the first telecommunications infrastructure in developing regions. By studying cellular net- work traffic, researchers gain insight into how technologies can be used to access services critical to further development. In this work, we approach a cellular traffic dataset provided by Orange in Cote d'Ivoire with the goal of identifying distinctions between urban and rural use of cellular infrastructure. We report on a number of interesting differences between urban and rural usage of cellular infrastructure. For instance, 70% of calls that originate in rural areas occur within the vicinity of the same antenna, whereas the same is true for only 23% of calls with urban origin. We are compelled to conclude that development efforts for rural areas might be implemented differently from development efforts in urban areas based on divergent use of current cellular infrastructure.