Socio Economic Profile of Househohold Consumers in Mizoram: India

The Socio sparing Characteristics of House reign Customers in Mizoram 2. 1 Introduction Consumer Behaviour, cosmos the psychological place of securities assiduitying management, is based on non-homogeneous work outs. Since built-inly of us be consumers, what we buy, how we buy, where and when we buy, in how much quantity we buy accounts on our perception, self concept, social and cultural scene and our age and family cycle, our attitudes, beliefs, observes, motivation, personality, social socio-economic class and many early(a) work outs that argon twain inbred and external to us (Mark ES and Armen T, 1985).This is very(prenominal) evident in India, the atomic number 16 close to populous nation in the populace and the number cardinal contributor to the cosmeas commonwealth growth of capability customers (Population Reference Bureau, 2000). Traditionally, marketers cede often relied on intuition and demographic in crapation much(prenominal) as age, sex, i ncome direct and tenancy for identifying potency atomic number 18as (Dash PK and Sarangi M, 2008). fit in to Sproles and Kendall (1986, p. 67), identification of these characteristics among the consumers helps to pen (individual) consumer style, ordinancete consumers al or so their specific decision- do characteristics, and counsel families on financial management. Again, many research studies surface that consumer profiles ar evidential as it deals with the psychological orientation of consumers in making decisions (Wells, 1975 Lastovicka, 1982 Westbrook and Black, 1985 Sproles and Sproles, 1990 St i, 1954 Darden and Moschis, 1976).The cardinal proceedss of demographic, socioeconomic and regional factor build been demonst wanderd by sundry(a) studies in consumers choice of foreign and domestic help products, or sort of ethnocentrism too (Sharma, 1995 Klien, 1998 and Elliot 2003). In the present chapter, it is intended to lavishlylight who the Mizoram categor y consumers be on the basis of their demographic and socioeconomic profile. 2. 2 Profile of the kin customers winning theatre customers as try out wholes, the planetary houses are examined from urban and cracker-barrel areas. all the eight (8) functioning regulates are taken into affection for the instruction.For the research, all the govern supply, namely, Aizawl, Champhai, Kolasib, Lawngtlai, Lunglei, Mamit, Saiha and Serchhip are taken as urban hears. The verdant samples are taken from the fol number oneing villages/towns Saitual and Aibawk from Aizawl district, Khawbung and Khawzawl from Champhai district, Bilkhawthlir and Vairengte from Kolasib district, Chawngte and Diltlang from Lawngtlai district, Hnahthial and Zobawk from Lunglei district, Rawpuichhip and Kawrthah from Mamit district, Tuipang and Sangau from Saiha district and N. Vanlaiphai and Thenzawl from Serchhip District. 0 abodes are sampled from the district headquarters for the urban sample and 20 mansions from all(prenominal) of the villages/towns mentioned for the country-style race sample, making it 40 folksy familys for every district. In all, 640 firms i. e. 80 theatres from separately districts, 40 from urban areas and 40 from sylvan areas are sampled to cover the satisfying affirm. The profiling of kinfolks is done, with suitable modifications and necessary adjustments in accordance to Splores and Kendalls Consumer Styles Inventory flummox (Splores and Kendall, 1986).Following Leon GS and Leslie LKs demographic subdivisionation, the sample is convey on the basis of the training level, main(prenominal) subscriber line, family sizing, composition of the planetary houses in hurt of number of heavy(a)s, squirtren, male and female members, turn over of income, number of earning members in a household and lastly, the type of per stable products have by household customers. abridgment is done employ F-Test and Pearson cor relation coefficient to rise out the kinship amidst plain and urban world for each of the demographic uncertains. F-Test analysis tests to wait whether devil world pas seuls fair to middling each other.Essentially, the analysis compares the ratio of cardinal variances. The presumption is that if the variance is equal, the ratio of the variances should be equal to 1. Variance whitethorn be findd as the square of exemplar deviation, standard deviation being the dispersion close the in governance sets blotto (Stephen L. Nelson, 2007). Standard deviation is calculated apply the formula ? = v? fd2x/N ? fdx/N2 and variance allow for be ? 2 (Mohan Singhal, 1999) Pearson correlation coefficient is used to correct the birth mingled with the two set of data x and y viz. rban and countrified commonwealth. The formula for finding out the correlation r can be noned using the formula rxy = N? fxy-? fx.? fy/vN? fx2-(? fx)2N? fy2-(? fy)2 The rig will be among -1 to +1. Positive determine signifies positive correlation i. e. some(prenominal) the data sets affect in same watchfulness epoch prejudicious value signifies negative correlation i. e. the two data sets move in several(a) direction (Lokesh Koul, 2009). The role of using F Test is to determine the homogeneity of the two sets i. e. arcadian and urban household customers. Correlation summary is sed to find out the nature and dot of kin amid the countrified and urban household customers for each of the socio economic variables. 2. 2. 1 tuition correspond to Harold H. Kassarjian (1971), education, desire other personal qualities including sex, income, family cycle and so on, play an important role in influencing the buying behaviour. The respondents who represented their households were broadly sort into illiterates, literates, Below Class 10, Class 10, college cut-outs, graduates and stockpile graduates on the basis of their education level and are represented in point 1. troop 1 Educational profile of household respondents slacken 1 Education level of sylvan and urban respondents tote up of household customers Education LevelRuralUrban Illiterates5 (1. 56)4 (1. 25) Literates70 (21. 88)21 (6. 56) Below class 1071 (22. 19)41 (12. 81) Class 1080 (25. 00)61 (19. 06) College drop outs30 (9. 38)32 (10. 00) Graduates51 (15. 94)105 (32. 81) Post graduates13 (4. 06)56 (17. 50) Total320320 melodic line Figures in excursus are percentages. winning into depict the responses of untaught and urban respondents as verbalisen in tabularize 1, the outcome F-test value tallied to 0. 840913.This shows a last layer of simile in the variances of the two sets, indicating homogeneity in composition amongst the two sets of respondents. The Pearsonian Correlation gave an produce of 0. 287853, a positive kinship amid country and urban. heretofore though in that evaluate is a high(prenominal) degree of homogeneity amidst the two sets of samples, the relationship amongst t he same set is non very difficult when introducing Correlation Analysis. According to Census India 2001, Mizoram stood as one of the leaders in the field of literacy. With 88. 48% rate of literacy, Mizoram came in second next to Kerala.This principle is reflected in the test as put over 1 indicated that solitary(prenominal) 1. 41% of the household respondents are illiterates. Even though in that location is not much battle amid awkward and urban respondents in respect of illiterates, the artless sample shows that majority of the rude households have passed class 10 i. e. 25% of the 320 agrestic households, while the majority of the urban households are graduates with 32. 81% of the 320 urban households. Although there is a kinda operative possible action in the level of education betwixt rural and urban samples, it is interesting to banknote that rural households do have price of admission to higher education. . 38% are college drop outs, 15. 94% are graduates an d 4. 06% of the rural households hold post graduate degrees. That makes 29. 38% of the rural households have exposure to collegiate surround and thus, to urban lifestyle as all of the 22 colleges including Law Colleges are conventional in urban areas i. e. district headquarters (statistical vade mecum, 2008). 2. 2. 2 caper According to the statistical Handbook (2008) published by the administration of Mizoram, floriculture and its allied sectors have a declining figures in ground of Gross province Domestic fruit (GSDP) for the past eld from 2005-06 till 2007-08.Further decline is expect from the quick estimate made by the Department. One factor so utter in the Handbook being the mautam famine. This whitethorn also result in turn of occupation from culture to other sectors to to a lower placetake livelihood. On the other hand, the dry land byword the incubation of buck mystic corporates in the form of damages companies, banking companies and other insular societie s. mixed private banking companies comparable Axis Bank, Syndicate, primaeval Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, IDBI, have started their branch offices in Mizoram bringing or so enjoyment opportunities for educated youths (see flurry 7. , Statistical Handbook 2008). At the same time, private insurance companies mushroomed in Mizoram from the past fivesome days. According to the gross Department , companies bid Birla Sunlife, Tata-AIG, Bajaj-Alliance, cartel etc. have started their ventures in Mizoram, over again opening employment for the sons-of-the-soil. With the betting advent of mobile-telecom industry in Mizoram since mid-2003, companies like Airtel, Reliance, Aircel, Tata-Indicom, Vodafone began employing mizo youths as their operational staffs. Even then, the erectst employing giving medication is the assert giving medication.According to the 5th sparing Census 2005 , the State Government accounted for 85% of employment in the State with 4 0,603 posts under its umbrella. In fact, the up-gradation data as on 2006 showed 51,070 employees including muster-rolls and work-charges. Purchase interestingness and consumer behaviour is greatly captured by the occupation of the household consumers (Harold H. Kassarjian, 1971). Therefore, the study categorise the sample households as Agriculture, woodworking and Skilled Workers, perfunctory Wage Earner, Government Employed, Private familiarity Employed and pedigree or Own Enterprise.Exhibit 2 shows the profile of occupations of the respondents. Exhibit 2 Occupation profile of household respondents control panel 2 Occupation of rural and urban respondents anatomy of household customers OccupationRuralUrban Agriculture81 (25. 31)3 (0. 94) Carpentry and Skilled Workers31 (9. 69)9 (2. 81) Daily wage earner40 (12. 50)32 (10) Government Employed99 (30. 94)223 (69. 69) Private Company employed3 (0. 94)19 (5. 94) Business66 (20. 63)34 (10. 63) Total320320 furrow Figures in divag ation are percentages Applying F-test, the relationship of rural and urban sample variances is calculated as 0. 79742, a low degree of homogeneity in terms of their variance ratio. Table 2 shows that rural households are to a greater extent change surfacely distributed in terms of different occupations than their urban counterparts. alone then, the correlation degree gave a rather high positive correlation of 0. 69526. This may be due to the fact that the highest frequencies of both rural and urban households are regime employed. Agriculture is heretofore an important occupation for the rural households, claiming to a greater extent than 1/quaternary of the whole rural households while agriculture is quite negligible for the urban population as an occupation.One indication that private companies are yet to penetrate the rural areas is the negligible employment by private companies in rural areas. Rural savings and insurance can yet still be tapped by private follow players. Sin ce 2005, National Rural Employment see to it Act/ Scheme began enhancing the purchasing office of the rural households. Moreover, this particular wage employment scheme encourages savings and personal insurance for the rural households . Rs. 39,500 crores will be handle into the rural areas nation-wide in the year 2009-10 under this scheme.This can be an opportunity as the rural consumers constitute more than 75% of the Indian population and out of the 1. 61 lakhs household in Mizoram, rural areas account for al more or less half of the whole population of the State (The Marketing Whitebook, 2005). Own enterprisingness or personal credit line constitute a significant proportion of households in the rural sample, again an indication of good business opportunity for rural banking. The overall tabulation shows that 50% of the whole sample population are government employed, signifying a mountainous business pool with secured incomes for marketers. . 2. 3 Family coat As the prima ry consumer decision making unit, the family has been the subject of intense examination for a number of years (Lakshmi PV and Murugan MS, 2008). Family may be regarded as one of the strongest source of influence on consumer behaviour, its coat being the significant determinant (Matin Khan, 2006). As the core unit of defining culture, family has a very freehanded effect on attitude formation in various facets of marketing (Burke, 2002 Wood, 2002). It may be held true that the family surface matters in household consumer behaviour.The larger the family, the larger its outlay ineluctably and wants. Product preferences also seem a lot on the household size (Srivastava KK and Sujata K, 2008). Exhibit 3 gives the overview family size of the household respondents. Exhibit 3 Family size profile of the household respondents Table 3 Family size of the rural and urban respondents sum up of household customers reduce of family membersRuralUrban Upto 211 (3. 44)22 (6. 88) 3 5152 (47. 50)154 (48. 13) 6 8133 (41. 56)138 (43. 13) 9 and supra24 (7. 50)6 (1. 88) Total320320 argument Figures in parenthesis are percentagesExhibit 3 shows that about 47% of households are bigger families with 6 or more members and Table 3 indicated that the number of families with membership of 9 and above is four times more in rural areas than in urban areas. According to the 2001 Census, the come size of scheduled folks households in the rural areas was 5. 2 members while in urban areas it was 4. 9 members. It should be noted that the two family sizes viz. 3 to 5 members and 6 to 8 members unitedly accounted for 89. 06% of the rural respondents and 91. 26% of their urban counterparts.Taking the family sizes 3 to 5 and 6 to 8, the median value size lies between 5 and 6 member-households. This indicates the proportion of the households studied with that of the Census 2001 figures . The F-Test shows a very high degree of 0. 932141, indicating high homogeneity between the rural and urban respondents. Further application of Correlation Analysis gave the value of 0. 987285, demonstrating a very high level of relationship between the rural and urban customer households. Hence, both the tests show that there is not much variance between the rural and urban households in respect to family size.India, for several decades, have been mingled in defining family size, in fact, one of the earliest nation to be touch on with the issue . Decadal studies show that there has been a marginal decrease in family size from 5. 5 in 1980s to 5. 3 in 2001 even though there is a very significant subjoin in population during 1980 and 2001 from 493,757 to 888,573 . This is an indication of development nuclearization of families in the Indian society as stated in Census India constitution and an indication of mass education and media cognisance of the general population demonstrated in the decrease of family size, an after-effect of family planning. . 2. 4 Age Product admits and interests vary with the age of the customers (Srivastava KK and Sujata K, 2008). manifestly then, different age groups present different marketing challenges and opportunities. Marketers thus have prove age to be a peculiarly useful demographic variable for distinguishing segments (Elliot et al, 2003). Table 4 shows the number of adults in both rural and urban households. Table 4 exit of adults good turn of household customers matter of adultsRuralUrbanTotal Upto 2102 (31. 88)104 (32. 50)206 (32. 19) 3 5146 (45. 63)171 (53. 44)317 (49. 53) 6 871 (22. 19)41 (12. 81)112 (17. 50) 9 and above1 0. 31)4 (1. 25)5 0. 78) Total320320640 Note Figures in parenthesis are percentages The output value of F Test gave a significantly high 0. 768617 cover the similarity between the rural and urban household customers in respect of the adult population. A correlation degree of positive . 959861 also indicates that there is a very high positive relationship between the two samples. Al closel y 50% of the households have 3 to 5 adult members. some 22% of the households in rural Mizoram have the adult population of 6 to 8 members, whereas barely 13% of the households in urban Mizoram have the same number of adult population.It is already demonstrated in Table 3 that the median household size of the samples is between 5 to 6 members. Therefore, it can be stated that the majority of households are adult-dominated. As for the children population, the rural and urban households are studied of its child members, categorizing them in 2 subsets, downstairs 14 years of age and between 14 to 18 years of age. Table 5 way out of children infra 14 years publication of household customers Number of children downstairs 14 yearsRuralUrbanTotal Upto 2112 (35)94 (29. 38)206 (32. 19) 3 566 (20. 63)78 (24. 38)144 (22. ) 6 820 (6. 25)16 (5)36 (5. 63) 9 and above01 (0. 31)1 (0. 16) Total198189387 Note Figures in parenthesis are percentages Of the 320 rural households, 198 households have family members downstairs 14 years and out of 320 urban households, 189 households have family members between 14 to 18 years of age. Table 6 Number of children between 14 to 18 years Number of household consumers Number of children between 14 to 18 yearsRuralUrbanTotal Less than 255 (10. 94)76 (23. 75)131 (20. 47) 3 559 (18. 44)42 (13. 13)101 (15. 78) 6 88 (2. 5)12 (3. 75)20 (3. 13) More than 90 (0. 31)1 (0. 16) Total122131253 Note Figures in parenthesis are percentages reveal of the 320 rural households, 122 households have family members between 14 to 18 years of age. Out of the 320 urban households, 131 households have family members between 14 to 18 years of age. The distinction of the children population into the 2 subsets is to segment the consumption needs and wants (Srivastava KK and Sujata K, 2008) Analysis of the rural and urban respondents with children below 14 years gave F-test value of 0. 884167 and a correlation coefficient of . 970224.These results showed t he close relationship between the two samples. Again, rural households and urban households with children between 14 to 18 years gave an F-test output of 0. 888851 and a correlation coefficient of . 886998, showing a positive relationship between the samples. This again shows that there is not much difference between the rural and urban household customers. A significant finding from the two subset tables is that virtually of the households in both rural and urban areas have the highest frequency in the least number of children in its family members i. . not more than 2 in the household, followed by 3 to 5 children in a household. While most of the households have 3 to 5 adults, most of the households have less(prenominal) than 2 members classified as children. This understandably demonstrated that most of the households are in the family stages known as Full live II and III . 2. 2. 5 Income Income is, possibly the single factor which significantly define the consumer behaviour o f households. In fact, much of the other demographic characteristics like education, family size, and culture depend largely on the income of the households.Even the economic environment depends on the households income and as Philip Kotler (2006) stated, In the economic arena, marketers need to focus on income scattering. Income is one of the important determinants which have a strong positive influence on the will power of durables (Bijaya KP and Siba PP, 2008) and even preference mold of consumable products largely depend upon the income distribution of the households (Prashanta KD and Minaketan S, 2008).Several studies show that income, as a demographic factor, has a significant effect on purchasing styles even on the internet (Marakas GM, Yi MY and Johnson RD, 2002 Ratchford et al, 2001 Wood, 2002). The income couch of the household respondents is illustrated in Exhibit 4. Exhibit 4 Income profile of household respondents Table 7 Income range of the rural and urban responde nts Number of household customers Income RangeRuralUrban 2000019 (5. 94)87 (27. 19) Total320320 Note Figures in parenthesis are percentages Taking the values given in Table 7, F-Test Analysis for the rural and urban households gave an output 0. 5093 while the Correlation Analysis gave a low positive relation degree of 0. 06. This shows that the income range distribution between rural and urban are rather loosely related, compared to other socio-economic factors already studied. In the rural sample, households with monthly income of Rs. 10,001 to 15,000 has the largest percentage, while the urban sample showed that households with more than 20,000 has the highest percentage. This may be due to the fact that the main occupation of the urban households is government jobs.Even though the largest percentage of the rural households is government employed, a very significant portion of the rural households are engaging in agriculture (see Table 2). Another factor may be the fact that highe r nonrecreational government jobs are mostly deep down the urban areas. According to Lalit Kumar Jha (1997), the overall fair household income of Mizoram State is Rs. 10,026 per month. This income range is reflected in the total household samples with 21. 09% as the highest percentage, showing the whole household sample is the sub-set of the State population. 2. 2. 6 Earning MembersThe phenomenon of dual income has been set as a sociologically relevant variable which may affect lifestyles of households (Srivastava KK and Sujata K, 2008). Michman R (1980) identified the multiplicity of income sources of households as an important market sub-segmentation as the purchasing capacity and involvement is much more dynamic. Recently, new segment has been identified and targeted as DINK or Double Income No Kids. An interesting view by the Associated Chamber of Commerce & persistence of India (2008) on Changing Consumption Patterns of Delhi shows that DINKs are high spenders .The surve y states that households DINKS spend more of their resources on luxurious lifestyles while their counterparts, double income-with kids households spend most of their incomes on child education, healthcare, insurance and home making, making the study of income source pattern a crucial issue for marketers. The number of earning members per households is presented in Exhibit 5 Exhibit 5 Earning members profile of household respondents Table 8 Number of earning members in rural and urban households Number of household consumers No. of Earning Member(s)RuralUrban 1248 (77. 5)141 (44. 06) 263 (19. 69)137 (42. 81) 39 2. 81)42 (13. 13) Total320320 Note Figures in parenthesis are percentages Table 9 depicts a rather unrelated distribution of number of households for rural and urban areas. Even though F-test Analysis gave a rather low homogeneity between rural and urban households with a degree of 0. 33318, Correlation Analysis gave a significant positive relationship of 0. 700723. This shows that even though there is a rather large disparity between the means of rural and urban households, their relationship cannot be ignored. The study shows that most of the rural households have all one earning member in its households, claiming 77. 0% of the whole sample while the urban households have a very bragging(a) proportion of two earning member households claiming 42. 81% of the urban sample, a close second to households with only one earning member. The number of earning members of rural and urban households can be co-related with the income ranges of rural and urban households. Table 7 showed that the average income range of urban households is relatively higher than rural households and Table 8 indicated that households with two earning members are quite higher in urban samples. . 2. 7 Durable products possess ORG-Gfk Year-End Reviews (2004) states that the Indian consumer durable industry is estimated at around Rs. 200 one million million and growing. The healthy gr owth of durables market can be an offset of various factors like fragmentation of households into double-income nuclear families to the nominal head of easier finance options expansion of dealer networks and after-sales work (Marketer Whitebook, 2005). In fact, durable products account for 6. 6% of yearly leverages of Indian households (Arvind Singhal, 2001).According to the discipline given in The Marketer Whitebook (2005) 42% of all households have radios, 20. 4% have television, 14. 1% owned name, 3. 1% owned bicycle, 6. 2% owned motorized 2-wheelers, 3. 4% owned cars and 50. 9% owned unspecified durables in Mizoram. The profile of durable products owned by the households determine various dimensions of consumer behaviour, namely, purchase preference, product acumen, support purchase for already owned durables, marketing opportunities and so on. Exhibit 6 gives an overview to the self-command of durable products by the household respondents.Exhibit 6 Durable products pro file of the household respondents Number of households Table 10 Durable products owned by rural and respondents Number of household customers RuralUrban Radio205 (64. 06)182 (56. 87) LPG209 (65. 31)315 (98. 43) Music system107 (33. 43)179 (55. 93) Television218 (68. 13)308 (96. 25) Fridge189 (59. 06)306 (95. 63) Oven15 (4. 68)65 (20. 31) Washing machine125 (39. 06)210 (65. 62) Telephone135 (42. 18)289 (90. 31) Mobile233 (72. 81)300 (93. 75) Computer48 (15)187 (58. 43) Scooter42 (13. 12)18 (5. 62) Bike31 (9. 68)112 (35) Car19 (5. 93)119 (37. 18)Note Figures in parenthesis are percentages From Table 9, the most owned durables by rural and urban household respondents can be ranked and represented in Table 10. Table 10 Ranking of most owned durable products Ranks 12345 RuralMobileTelevisionLPGRadioFridge UrbanLPGTelevisionFridgeMobileTelephone OverallLPGMobileTelevisionFridgeTelephone Durable products are independent to factors like access to electricity, handiness of LPG suppliers and petrol pumps. According to the Statistical Handbook (2008), there are 24 LPG authorize dealers, each district having at least one dealer.There are 18 petrol pumps all over the State and every district except Mamit district has at least one accepted petrol pump. As for electrification, 570 villages have already been electrified, accounting for around 70% of the State accessing to electricity, 44. 1% of the rural households and 94. 4% of the urban households reported as electrified. According to the Taxation Department Report, mobile phone came in use only from 2003 that too started only with BSNL giving out 500 subscriptions. trough October 2008, there is a total of 2,85,287 subscribers with BSNL, Airtel, Reliance and Aircel.This information does not take into consideration the entry of Tata-Indicom and Vodaphone service providers. Out of the 320 respondents from rural households, 233 households (i. e. 72. 81%) own mobile phones. mixed factors can come into play here, the free- enterprise(a) and aggressive participation of mobile service providers in the rapid and widespread penetration of both rural and urban areas being one of the major factors, competing and overtaking at some places in the once monopoly of the state-owned BSNL. About 29 recognised cable TV operators operating in urban and semi-urban areas gave monthly subscription to consumers since 1991 .Apart from these operators, private dish antennas are made available by zee Group (Dish Tv) at affordable prices below Rs. 2,000 . This may be one of the main reasons that television is very popular in both the rural and urban areas, claiming 68. 13% of rural households and 96. 25% of urban households owned television set. It is interesting to see that even some unelectrified villages have solar ply television with dish antennas besides the thatched huts . LPG is considered household necessity for the urban households with 98. 43% of urban samples having access to LPG.Yet, it came as the third most o wned durable product in the rural areas. A prominent factor may be the easy handiness to the LPG dealers. Aizawl has 11 LPG agents within its district, Lunglei with 4 agencies, Kolasib with 3 agencies, Champhai with 2 agencies and Lawngtlai, Mamit, Serchhip and Saiha with 1 agency each. early(a) factors may be the price of LPG cylinders and irresolution of supply even at the agencies. Even though radio continues to be the most extensive network covering the entire State , its popularity is confined mostly to the rural areas, accounting for 64. 06% of rural households and 56. 7% of urban households of the sample. Advance of other electronic media, like cable television network and Doordarshan, mayhap one of the main reasons. Fridge ownership accounted for 59. 06% of rural households and 95. 63% of urban households. As large number of rural households are agrarian based, they can be sham to have easy access to refreshed vegetables as compared to the urban households. The main ad vantage of fridge being storing of food, thus is more popular in the urban areas. As for telephone, 90. 31% of the urban households have telephone connection while 42. 18% of rural households accounted for telephone connection.