Measuring the Unmeasured: Mobile Broadband Inequality in the Global South

Abstract

Mobile broadband is the dominant mode of Internet access across the Global South, yet independent quality assessment remains fundamentally limited. Crowdsourced platforms capture only where motivated users run speed tests, while standard administrative aggregation collapses communities with vastly different connectivity realities into a single metric — together rendering marginalized communities invisible to measurement. We construct iQoE, a normalized broadband quality index derived from crowdsourced data, and show that measurement density correlates strongly with wealth while national progress narratives obscure deep spatial inequality. To reach communities iQoE cannot see, we propose a mixed-methods approach: a lightweight Android app paired with a diary study in Korail — Bangladesh's largest urban slum — triangulated against network planner interviews. We seek SIGCOMM community feedback on measurement design for underserved urban contexts in the Global South.