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Village Phone

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Launched in 2003, Grameen Foundation’s Village Phone program was created to bring affordable and reliable telecommunications to the poor, especially the poorest.

Working in partnership with telecomm provider MTN and local microfinance institutions, Grameen Foundation created a micro-enterprise opportunity that enabled a borrower to become a Village Phone Operator and sell mobile air time to people in their village.
 
Modeled after Grameen Telecom in Bangladesh, the Village Phone program grew to include 30,000 Village Phone Operators servicing more than 15 million people, helping to prove that poor, rural populations were a viable market for telecommunications companies to provide service. As a result, additional mobile phone services are being developed specifically for those living at the base of the socio-economic pyramid.
 
Today, as mobile coverage has expanded, our original Village Phone model has evolved to meet the needs of the poor and poorest. Read more about Grameen Foundation’s Mobile Health, Agriculture, Livelihoods orFinancial Services Programs.

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