The GSMA recently announced the launch of the Connected Women Commitment Initiative, aimed at reducing the mobile gender gap. Initial commitments by GSMA operator members, with over 75 million mobile internet and mobile money customers, will aim to connect millions more women in low and middle‐income countries by 2020.
These operators will seek to increase the proportion of their female customers to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. This builds on the 15 million women already benefiting from female‐focused services offered by the GSMA’s Connected Women operator partners.
The first GSMA operator members to have made Connected Women Commitments in their markets include Dialog Axiata PLC in Sri Lanka, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) in Malaysia, Indosat Ooredoo in Indonesia, Ooredoo Maldives, Ooredoo Myanmar, Robi Axiata Limited in Bangladesh, Tigo in Rwanda and Turkcell in Turkey. Existing and potential commitments among the mobile operators include, for example: increasing the number of female agents; improving the data top‐up process to be safer and more appealing to women; and improving digital literacy among women through educational programmes and interactive content. Closing the gender gap in mobile phone ownership and usage in the developing world could unlock an estimated US$170 billion market opportunity for the mobile industry in the period 2015‐2020.
Commenting on the Connected Woman initiative Axiata Group Berhad’s Managing Director, President and Group Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said that: “As a Group committed to the acceleration of the digital economy, Axiata welcomes efforts under the GSMA Connected Women programme to bridge the digital divide in the mobile industry. There is much more operators can do to encourage gender diversity and increase women’s ownership and use of the mobile phone. Improved access to mobile services opens up possibilities for women and girls in education, healthcare, enterprise and business. As such, Axiata supports initiatives for greater gender inclusion and equal opportunities in all the markets where we operate.”
About the GSMA:
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry‐leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai and the Mobile 360 Series conferences.
About Robi:
Robi Axiata Limited is a joint venture between Axiata Group Berhad, of Malaysia and NTT DoCoMo Inc., of Japan. Robi is the second largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh in terms of revenue, with 28.4 million subscribers, as of September 2015. Robi network provides nationwide coverage to 99% of the population with 13,260 2.5G BTS and over 2,950 3.5G sites. Robi proudly claims to have the widest international roaming service in the market, connecting 600 operators across more than 200 countries. It is also the first operator to introduce GPRS and 3.5G services in Bangladesh. The Company has introduced many first of its kind digital services in the country and has invested heavily in taking mobile financial services to the underserved communities in the rural and semi-urban areas.