How expensive is an SMS network?
The cost of your network will largely depend on the scale (e.g. the number of phones and the volume of text messages processed per day). Here are the numbers in Malawi: • The pilot network includes 75 community health workers (CHWs) and 10 members of the hospital staff. • During the final weeks of the implementation period (weeks 7 and 8), an average of 10 messages were received from the hospital per day. The number of responses by the hospital (along with new patient tracking requests) varied. • Once the phones are distributed, the only running cost is the rate per SMS. Given that one SMS costs 10 cents, and they are free to receive, the program is running on just over $1/day. So, $4,000 will fund the SMS network for a little over 10 years.
