Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, has been acclaimed by the ITU for his action within the poorest local communities. In 1997 he set up the «Village Phone» programme to provide outlying rural regions with access to telephone services. Operated by GrameenPhone with the support of Grameen Bank, «Village Voice» aims to install a telephone in every village and thus contribute to their economic development.

The principle is to enable women to operate a public wireless payphone office. Through the programme, they can subscribe to a loan to invest in a telephone subscription and a mobile phone. They then offer the telephone service to the people of the village for a small charge. To date, some 165,000 people have joined the Village Phone programme, which provides access to a telephone to more than 60 millions people dwelling in rural Bangladesh.

Source: www.grameenphone.com

The Grameen Bank was founded in Bangladesh by Muhammad Yunus in 1983, with the objective of offering micro-credits to the poorest members of the community.