Grameen takes Village Phone to Indonesia

Posted on August 1, 2008 / 2 Comments

An alliance between Grameen Foundation, Indonesia’s Bakrie Telecom and Qualcomm has rolled out a Village Phone Programme in rural Indonesia, which allows renting the use of the phone on a per-call basis in rural villages where telecom services did not previously exist.

“Microfinance helps to put technology within financial reach of the poor and we are pleased to work with Qualcomm and Bakrie Telecom to help Indonesia’s rural microentrepreneurs build self-sustaining businesses that also enhance the socio-economic development of their wider communities,” said Alex Counts, president and CEO of Grameen Foundation. Read more.

2 Comments

Chanuka Wattegama
August 6, 2008, 8:20 am
We have received the following correspondence from Grameen Foundation. We apologise for our unintentional error. (Text is corrected now.)

Dear Sir/Madam:

Thank you for highlighting the launch of Uber Esia, the new Village Phone program in Indonesia. I would like to correct one error. Grameen Foundation is not based in Bangladesh; it is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Our founding was inspired by the work of Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, but we are completely separate organizations. I would appreciate it if you would make that correction.

Sincerely,
Liselle Yorke
Senior Marketing Officer
Grameen Foundation
Abu Saeed Khan
August 6, 2008, 10:17 am
That is an editorial error of Telecom TV. Thanks for pointing it out, anyway.