Telenor’s project sampark bags Aegis Graham Bell awards for bridging mobile gender gap

NEW DELHI: Telenor's Sampark has been recognised externally for bridging the mobile gender gap. Telenor won the Aegis Graham Bell Awards 2015 for ‘Bringing Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid’ under the telecom category and Exchange4media IPRCC Awards 2015 under the CSR & Not-for-profit category for the most effective CSR campaign/Social responsibility campaign.

Telenor (India) Communications is a wholly owned company of Norway-based Telenor Group and offers mobile telephony services under the brand Telenor. The company launched it services in 2009 and till recently was known as Uninor in the market.

The Aegis Graham Bell Awards, one of the reputed awards of the telecom industry, have been spreading innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of Telecom, Internet, Media & Edutainment (TIME) and providing recognition for outstanding contributions in this field in India.The India PR & Corporate Communications Awards recognize the contribution and success of the PR Industry.

“ Project Sampark aims to address the socio-economic causes behind the mobile gender gap and increase women's access to mobile phones in the rural areas of India. Social responsibility forms an essential part of Telenor’s strategy and being a socially responsible brand, we strongly believe in giving back to the society in all possible ways,” said Pooja Thakran, Chief Communications Officer & Social Responsibility Head, Telenor India.

A study by Telenor conducted in the pilot area, revealed that in the remote areas like villages of Aligarh in UP West circle, men of the house usually make the decision on whether a woman should own her own personal phone. To address this issue, Telenor piloted Project Sampark in the remote villages of Aligarh. This project looked at approaching the barriers to mobile adoption through a two-pronged strategy to address key barriers like cost, culture, technical literacy and perception of values, which discourages women to adopt mobile telecommunication services.

Telenor has joined hands with GSMA for Project Sampark. GSMA supported in commissioning the ‘Connected Women’ program, which aims at reducing the mobile gender inequality in emerging markets like India.