Ooredoo Group chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani has urged governments and industry peers to address the infrastructure challenges in bringing the next billion people online.
Some 2.3bn people around the world now have access to the Internet, according to the UN Broadband Commission, but that still leaves a huge number of people – including a disproportionate amount of women and those in the developing world – unable to access the life-enriching benefits of the online world.
Ooredoo has launched a series of initiatives aimed at connecting people across its markets in Southeast Asia and the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) region. Sheikh Abdullah called upon industry peers to help remove the barriers that prevent people from getting online.
“We are passionate about bringing the next billion people online. However, the vast majority of people around the globe remain disconnected due to the substantial obstacles providers are facing,” Sheikh Abdullah said.
“While telecom providers are undertaking a great challenge by building infrastructures where none currently exist, these costs are significant and excessive sector-specific taxation is an impediment to growth. It is important for mobile operators to have a level playing field. As the voice of emerging market consumers, Ooredoo urges governments and industry peers to become more involved, recognise the benefits they will realise from the networks we are building, and help defray the costs so growth and innovation can continue,” he said.
Sheikh Abdullah’s comments were in the context of the UN Broadband Commission’s release of new country-by-country data on state of broadband access worldwide in its 2014 “State of Broadband” report.
According to the report, Qatar has second highest level of household broadband penetration (96.4%) of any developing country after South Korea. However, other Ooredoo markets have a significant way to go – both Tunisia and Iraq currently have less than 50% of the population online.
Ooredoo’s newest market, Myanmar, had just 1.2% of its population online at the time the survey was conducted.
The UN Broadband Commission reports that there are over 200mn fewer women online than men globally, underlining the significant disparity in access between men and women.
Ooredoo recently announced a number of major new initiatives at the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in New York aimed at closing this gap. These initiatives include The Connected Women Programme with GSMA (GSM Association) and partners, and the ‘She Works’ programme with IFC (International Finance Corporation) and nine other companies.
With the GSMA Connected Women Programme, the GSMA will undertake studies that will offer critical insights into the socio-economic benefits of greater inclusion of women in the telecommunications sector. The findings will be used by partners – including Ooredoo – to develop initiatives and services for female consumers and employees.
In line with this commitment, Ooredoo launched Myanmar’s first maternal health information app, called ‘May May’ (or ‘mother’ in Myanmar’s language) last month.
In addition, Ooredoo subsidiary Indosat will draw on the studies to launch new services designed for women in Indonesia. Indosat will launch a new start-up called ‘Wobe’, targeting lower to middle income Indonesian women with voice, data and internet services.
Ooredoo has also committed to enhance talent development across its operations, as part of a private sector partnership launched by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, which will improve employment opportunities for more than 300,000 women over the next two years.
The partnerships called ‘She Works’, brings together 10 leading companies that will implement measures to enhance women’s employment opportunities – such as mentorship programs, flexible working arrangements, and leadership training to increase diversity in management.
