Grameen Village Phone: Its Current Status and Future Prospects
This paper discusses the efforts of Grameen Telecom to build rural telecommunication infrastructure in the villages of Bangladesh. The paper reflects on market development outcomes due to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services provided by Grameen Telecom.
The paper looks at the Bangladesh economy for which this market intervention has been designed and implemented. In particular, it looks at:
- The demand for telecom services;
- The willingness and the ability to pay for such services.
In case of service providers, the paper further looks at the Grameen Bank borrowers operating mobile phone services:
- To better understand how they operate their businesses;
- To estimate the extent to which the new entrepreneurs could benefit from additional business development services.
The author proceeds by analyzing the business clients of the mobile phone providers to:
- Understand how they use the phones for operating their businesses;
- Assess what value addition the phones bring to their businesses.
Finally, the document concludes by stating that irrespective of occupying a unique position, Grameen phones are still facing significant challenges from the competitors and from the political forces.
