The GSMA, Monday 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 2021.
The first GSMA operator members to have made Connected Women Commitments in their markets include Dialog Axiata PLC in Sri Lanka, Digi Telecommunications in Malaysia, Indosat Ooredoo in Indonesia, Ooreeoo Maldives, Ooredoo Myanmar, Robi Axiata in Bangladesh, Tigo Rwanda and Turkcell in Turkey.
Existing and potential commitments amongst the mobile operators include increasing the number of female agents and improving the data top-up process to be safer and more appealing to women. 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, said GSMA.
Dato' Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim, Managing Director, President and Group Chief Executive Officer, Axiata
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.
H.E. Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani, Group Chief Executive Officer, Ooredoo
We are pleased to support GSMA’s Connected Women Commitment, with the aim to extend the opportunities of mobile technology to all women in Indonesia, Myanmar and the Maldives, ensuring that they too can reap its remarkable benefits for economic and social development.
