Village Phone Operators create businesses, bring affordable telecommunications to Bangladesh, Uganda, Senegal, Philippines, Rwanda

Access to affordable telecommunications simply does not exist for millions in the developing world. Placing a phone call can mean travelling miles from home, leaving work and losing desperately-needed income. Based on the pioneering work of Grameen Village Phone in Bangladesh, Village Phone extends the benefits of affordable telecommunications access in a sustainable, profitable and empowering way.

Grameen Foundation creates the linkage between telecommunications and microfinance sectors so microfinance clients can borrow the money needed to buy a “Village Phone business” – literally, a business in a box. These grassroots entrepreneurs, or Village Phone Operators (VPOs), rent the use of the phone to their community on a per-call basis. The VPOs provide affordable rates to their patrons while earning enough to repay their loans and earn profits that allow them to invest in their children’s health, nutrition and education, and in other business ventures.

Village Phone benefits everyone. VPOs have strong, thriving businesses. Microfinance institutions earn income on the loan interest and commissions from selling prepaid airtime cards to their clients, and attract new clients drawn by the opportunity to start a technology-oriented business. Telecommunications companies tap a new market and further their social responsibility objectives. More importantly, individuals living in rural communities gain access to affordable telecommunication links with friends, family, business contacts and the world.

The Village Phone program in Bangladesh, which began in 1997, now has more than 200,000 subscribers and serves more than 60 million people living in rural Bangladesh. Loans of about US$185 cover the cell-phone subscription, handset, and incidental expenses; income of about US$60 to US$70 per month per borrower allows women to repay their loans.

The Grameen Foundation's Village Phone manual provides a step-by-step guide for introducing this program elsewhere. It draws on Grameen Telecom's pioneering work in Bangladesh where Village Phone first began, and Grameen Foundation’s experience in launching the first successful replication in Uganda. The manual, published by the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force, has already inspired Village Phone initiatives in Senegal. Village Phone projects are currently underway in the Philippines, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Village Phone Rwanda, launched by Grameen Foundation and MTN Rwanda Cell, aims to create 3,000 new businesses all over Rwanda in three years by providing VPOs with a microfinance loan of $250US to buy the phone kit including a handset, SIM card, and marketing materials.

Adapted from an article on the Grameen Foundation site and the October 2006 e-newsletter Development Challenges, South-South Solutions, published by UNDP. Download the Grameen Foundation's Village Phone Replication Manual.

Grameen Foundation, 50 F Street NW, 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20001 USA. Email:

 

For other stories about innovative programs to bring telecommunications to rural areas, see:

Haiti's rural communities get vital communications link

Technological innovation brings low-cost phone calls to poor South African townships

Mobile phone powers internet cafe in Bangladesh


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