October 25, 2016

Aircel, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Sign Up to Connected Women Commitment Initiative

New Delhi: At the GSMA Mobile 360 – India conference today, the GSMA announced a further three signatories to the Connected Women Commitment Initiative, which focuses on reducing the gender gap in mobile internet and mobile money services. Aircel, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone have made a commitment to increase the number of women accessing mobile internet services, with additional commitment from Vodafone to grow its base of female mobile money customers. Collectively representing over 100 million customers in these service areas, Aircel, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone now join with other GSMA operator members in committing to connect millions more women in low- and middle-income countries by 2020.

GSMA research has shown that in India, there are significant gender gaps in mobile internet and mobile money services, which prevent women from reaping the full benefits of mobile phone ownership. Further, according to the World Bank’s Findex 2014 data¹ , women in India are 66 per cent less likely to have used and benefitted from mobile money services in the past 12 months.

“Addressing the gender gap in mobile phone ownership is an important topic that business leaders and governments will be discussing at the GSMA’s Mobile 360 – India event,” said Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA. “GSMA research² shows that South Asia has the highest gender gap globally in mobile phone ownership and that women in India are estimated to be 36 per cent less likely to own a mobile than men, translating into an estimated 114 million fewer women who are benefiting from mobile services. Ensuring digital and financial inclusion for women is essential, because when women thrive, societies and economies thrive.”

These latest commitments by three of India’s leading operators build on the 15 million women already benefiting from female-focused services offered by GSMA Connected Women operator partners. Through the Connected Women Commitment Initiative, operators are working to increase the proportion of their female customers, supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 5, which focuses on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

Operators participating in the Connected Women Commitment Initiative are implementing a range of programmes to address the gender gap, including: 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.

The Connected Women Commitment Initiative was launched in February 2016 and has now received 30 commitments from 22 operators. In addition to Aircel, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone in India, signatories include Dialog Axiata PLC in Sri Lanka, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) in Malaysia, Indosat Ooredoo in Indonesia, Ooredoo Maldives, Orange Mali, Ooredoo Myanmar, Robi Axiata Limited in Bangladesh, Smart Burundi, Smart Tanzania, Smart Uganda, Tigo Chad, Tigo Ghana, Tigo Rwanda Tigo Senegal, Tigo Tanzania, Turkcell and Zantel which totals well over 200 million mobile internet and mobile money customers where a mobile operator has made a commitment (i.e. mobile internet or mobile money). Find out more about the Connected Women Commitment Initiative at http://gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/the-commitment.