ABSTRACT
Current estimates of the digital divide in mobile phones between rich and poor countries are based on the ethnocentric assumption that in both regions the use of these products takes place through individual ownership. But while this assumption may be largely true in the former countries, it does not match the circumstances in the latter regions, where a considerable amount of sharing is shown to take place (partly for cultural reasons). Using the available survey evidence and a simple arithmetic framework, I show that when sharing is taken into account, the divide entirely ceases to exist or is greatly reduced (though there are one or two exceptions to this general pattern). Improvements in data collection practice will tend, as I see it, to strengthen rather than cast doubt upon this novel finding. If so, questions arise as to the need for a gap analysis per se.
