GSMA and International Finance Corporation Partner to Launch Community Power from Mobile

Nearly 1.6 billion people in the developing world live without access to electricity; the mobile industry is deploying 640,000 off-grid base stations by 2012 which could provide excess power to local, off-grid communities

HONG KONG, November 17, 2010 - The GSMA Development Fund today announced that is has partnered with
Lighting Africa (www.lightingafrica.org), a joint IFC and World Bank
programme, to formally launch the Community Power from Mobile (CPM)
initiative. CPM will support and encourage mobile network operators (MNOs)
and tower-sharing companies in developing countries to provide excess power
generated by their base stations to local, off-grid communities.

Mobile operators have become proficient at generating their own off-grid
power, typically by diesel generators, but increasingly using alternative
energy such as solar and wind. Typically with more than 5 kilowatts (kW) of
excess power each, the off-grid base stations will initially be used to
charge a range of devices such as mobile handsets, lanterns and household
batteries, and ultimately, to power, businesses, clinics, vaccination
refrigerators, schools and homes. The off-grid base stations are often
physically close to villages which means that communities will no longer have
to waste time travelling long distances to charge devices.

"The mobile industry is experiencing unprecedented infrastructure growth
in off-grid regions in the developing world, where nearly 1.6 billion people
live without access to the electricity grid, and we estimate that 485 million
of those have access to mobile phone services," said Chris Locke, Managing
Director, GSMA Development Fund. "As base stations are typically the only
powered infrastructure within walking distance of the community, the
Community Power from Mobile initiative can simultaneously improve the
business case for off-grid telecoms and have significant societal impact."

CPM plans for pilot projects in East Africa and India to be launched in
Q1 2011. The GSMA is working with a number of its members and other industry
stakeholders including partners in India and East Africa who are now
investigating or trialling new business models in providing power beyond the
base station. GSMA members are planning to install 640,000 off-grid base
stations by 2012 across the developing world in close proximity to off-grid
populations. By mid-2012, CPM will have developed commercially viable
business model(s) and assisted 10 MNOs to expand their rollouts across the
developing world.

Globally, base of the pyramid (BoP) households spend US$433 billion per
year(1) on household energy, primarily for lighting, cooking and powering
electronic devices. Handset charging alone costs an average of US$3 per
month(2) for an off-grid subscriber, equivalent to a third of their monthly
mobile spend, and kerosene purchases for lighting typically add another $5-10
per month(3). The GSMA has identified a number of major benefits that CPM
will deliver:

    - Economic and social uplift in off-grid communities driven by improved
      energy access
    - Off-grid base stations typically have 5kW of excess power, enough to
      charge thousands of handsets, provide electricity to 30 homes, power 15
      vaccination fridges or 2 clinics(4)
    - As base stations are often in the middle of a village, this results in
      a major reduction in travel time and costs to charge handsets, lanterns
      and other electronic devices
    - Additional revenue streams for operators by selling surplus power to
      energy companies and communities
    - Availability of off-grid handset charging has been demonstrated to
      raise average Revenue Per User (ARPU) by 10-14 percent, equivalent to
      an additional revenue opportunity of US$2.3 billion if the 485 million
      off-grid subscribers had access to handset charging*
    - Increased site security leading to reduction in diesel theft

"While the rest of the world is enjoying increased electrification
levels, Africa's non-electrified population is growing steadily, projected to
reach 700 million by 2030. The situation is particularly acute among the
rural poor, who account for 88% of those without electricity," says Arthur
Itotia Njagi, Lighting Africa's Programme Manager. "Partnering with the
mobile phone operators promises to develop new business models and delivery
models for modern off-grid lighting and related energy services."

As Community Power from Mobile is an embryonic concept within the mobile
industry, the programme will play a key role in helping to build awareness of
this opportunity, developing and testing the appropriate business models and
identifying the required partners, all of which will help to bring the
concept to scale. The CPM initiative will incorporate three workstreams
designed to reduce the barriers identified: Knowledge Sharing & Convening,
CPM Pilots and Technical Assistance and Training.

During 2009, GSMA Green Power for Mobile conducted research on the
Community Power from Mobile concept and published a white paper called
'Community Power - Using Mobile to Extend the Grid'. The report revealed that
operators will deploy 640,000 off-grid base stations by 2012 and these
typically have 5 kW of excess power available. The report identified that
MNOs are trialling new business models to provide this excess power to local
off-grid communities.

(www.gsmworld.com/our-work/mobile_planet/green_power_for_mobile/resources.htm).

The GSMA Development Fund exists to accelerate economic, social and
environmental development through the use of mobile technology. It leverages
the industry expertise of the GSMA and its members, as well as the
development expertise of international agencies and non-profit organisations
to accelerate mobile services in three areas: Connectivity, Energy and
mServices.

In the Energy area, the Development Fund's Green Power for Mobile
programme, which has launched the Community Power from Mobile initiative, is
focused on extending mobile beyond the grid, with two primary objectives: to
systematically reduce diesel consumption by mobile operators through the
promotion of renewable energy technologies and energy efficient base
stations, as well as to remove the barriers to handset charging in off-grid
regions. The programme has recently been recognised by the Clinton Global
Initiative for its exemplary approach to accelerating solutions that address
climate change, and has been profiled in the Clinton Global Initiative's
2004-2008 commemorative publication, "Action Speaks Louder than Words."

Additional supporting quotes:

"Barefoot Power has been focused on the off-grid power market for 6
years, and sees the Community Power from Mobile as a great opportunity to
commercially extend solid, scaled and stable rural power infrastructure to
surrounding communities that lack access to electricity, in partnership with
mature companies already committed to investing in life-improving
technologies."

Barefoot Power: Stewart Craine, CEO

"Bharti Infratel sees 'Community Power from Mobile' as an opportunity to
provide power charging services to rural India. As a company, Bharti Infratel
views this initiative (currently in its pilot stage) as an opportunity to
serve the rural population and believes that this groundbreaking initiative
will benefit the rural citizens and would have a have large-scale social
impact."

Bharti Infratel: Sairam Prasad, CTO

"GTL Infra, a Global Group Enterprise with over 31,000 cell towers in
operation, is India's largest independent (not owned by any mobile operator)
telecom tower company. Global Group views the Community Power from Mobile
opportunity as a way to engage with the local communities and help modern
lighting and energy solutions reach remote parts of India."

GTL: Sharat Chandra, President and COO, Strategy & New Technologies

"Safaricom is providing power at over 20 of our off-grid base stations
for handset charging, street lighting, and power for businesses, schools and
clinics. As this is all using available excess power we see it as a simple
way of adding additional benefit to Kenyan communities whilst also
strengthening our brand image, increasing site security and improving local
ARPU due to charged handsets."

Safaricom: Patrick Nyaboga Ng'ate

"Our Energize the Chain project, based at the University of Pennsylvania
in Philadelphia is seeking to utilise excess power from base stations for
vaccination fridges. Maintaining a powered 'cold chain' for vaccinations is a
critical barrier to improvements in health care in the rural regions of the
developing world. We see Community Power from Mobile as an immediate step
that can be done to save lives."

University of Pennsylvannia: Harvey Rubin, MD, PhD, Professor of
Medicine, Microbiology and Computer Science

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications
industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's
mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile
ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers,
Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA is
focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its
membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile
communications industry.

For more information, please visit Mobile World Live, the new online
portal for the mobile communications industry, at
www.mobileworldlive.com or the GSMA corporate website at
www.gsmworld.com.

About Lighting Africa

Lighting Africa, a joint IFC and World Bank program, seeks to accelerate
the development of commercial off-grid lighting markets in Sub-Saharan Africa
as part of the World Bank Group's wider efforts to improve access to energy.
Lighting Africa is helping mobilize the private sector to build sustainable
markets to provide 2.5 million people with safe, affordable, and modern
off-grid lighting by 2012. The longer-term goal is to eliminate market
barriers for the private sector to reach 250 million people in Africa without
electricity, and using fuel based lighting, by 2030. Improved lighting
provides significant socio-economic, health and environmental benefits such
as new income generation opportunities for small businesses. Lighting Africa
is a key element of the global Solar and LED Energy Access (SLED) program, an
initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial.

For more information, please visit www.lightingafrica.org

Lighting Africa is implemented in partnership with the Africa Renewable
Energy and Access Grants Program (AFREA), the Asia Sustainable and
Alternative Energy Program (ASTAE), the Energy Sector Management Assistance
Program (ESMAP), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Good Energies
Inc., Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, the Public-Private
Infrastructure Advisory Facility, (PPIAF), the Renewable Energy and Energy
Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) and the United States.

(1) World Resources Institute, "The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and
Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid", 2007

(2) GSMA Analysis

(3) Lighting Africa

(4) GSMA Analysis

* The market opportunity is calculated by taking the 485 million people,
at an average ARPU of US$4 (GSMA estimate, based on Wireless Intelligence
data) and an increase of 10%, on annual basis

Brian Paterson, +852-9755-3310, mac at ebacomms.com, or Tracy Cheung, +852-9366-7761, mac at ebacomms.com, or Daniel Lowther, +44-7747-636-687, press at gsm.org