GSMA Announces Six New Grant Recipients of the Mobile Money for the Unbanked Programme

HONG KONG, November 18 - The GSMA, the body that represents the worldwide mobile communications
industry, today revealed the details of six additional grants from the Mobile
Money for the Unbanked Fund (MMU), which is administered by the GSMA
Foundation, Inc. New grantees include AKTEL in Bangladesh, Dialog Telekom PLC
in Sri Lanka, Grameenphone Ltd in Bangladesh, MTN Cameroon, MTN Uganda and
Vodacom Tanzania. Grants are available for projects promoting the uptake of
mobile money services for the unbanked and underbanked, with funding for
projects up to a value of US$1million.

"These and our previously announced MMU grants are being used
to significantly accelerate acceptance and adoption of mobile money services
for base of the pyramid customers globally," said Gavin Krugel, Director
GSMA. "The operators are working to reduce the infrastructure gap that exists
in rural areas and are making mCommerce more accessible, convenient and
affordable to customers."

"Mobile money can change the lives of unbanked people for the
better. Mobile money services bring genuine and immediate benefits, by
helping people carry out the kind of daily transactions and remittances we
take for granted, or by providing monetary tools to help improve a small
business or even set one up. For most it will be the first time they have had
a financial identity - this is a profound and positive change," Eden Zoller,
Principal Analyst, Ovum.

According to research, only 13 per cent of the population of
Bangladesh has a bank account, which means that upwards of 130m people have
no access to formal financial services. MMU funds have been awarded to two
participants in Bangladesh, AKTEL (a joint venture company between Axiata
Group Berhad of Malaysia and NTT DoCoMo, Japan) and Grameenphone Ltd. In
November, AKTELwill launch a bill payment service (through mobile) for
electricity subscribers, which has been awarded by the Bangladesh Power
Development Board (BPDB) to AKTEL. Under the mCommerce initiative, AKTEL is
introducing SMS and IVR based services with the aim of assisting financially
constrained rural communities who wish to mobilise money in an easier and
faster manner. Grameenphone aims to improve penetration of financial services
to rural areas to enable migrant workers in urban locations to remit funds to
their families based in those rural communities.

By reaching the underbanked, the unbanked and those
financially handicapped by high interest rates from existing services,
Grameenphone and AKTEL are enabling individuals to create financial
identities which will benefit the whole community. With regulatory approval,
the implementation of mobile money services will enable Bangladeshis to take
advantage of more efficient, less time consuming and more secure new services
and in the long run help alleviate poverty in Bangladesh.

Sri Lankan-based Dialog plans to introduce mCommerce services
to the North and North-Central provinces of Sri Lanka. Dialog will focus on
regions deficient in financial services infrastructure, and on initiatives to
enhance people's lives by providing a range of mCommerce services at
affordable prices including utility bill payment, person-to-person money
transfers, over-the-counter payments and cash withdrawal/deposits.

Less than 10 per cent of the working population of Cameroon
has a bank account due to poor banking infrastructure and low penetration but
also, as the majority of Camaroonians are self employed, they do not have the
payslips that are required to open accounts. MTN's MobileMoney service, which
was created by partnering with a large microfinance network, will reach out
to the farmers, workers and small entrepreneurs where money transfer can be
used for peer to peer, account to cash and cash to cash payments. Subject to
regulatory approval, MobileMoney will also be used to pay utility bills which
can be received directly to mobile phones and payment made instantly.

According to research, 60 per cent of the Ugandan populace
does not have access to any type of services and 71 per cent save in 'secret'
places such as under the bed. MTN Uganda will help connect the 86 per cent of
people who live and work in rural areas to banking services, paying
particular interest to small-scale traders and those who buy and sell
agricultural produce. MTN services highlight the simplicity and security of
mobile money transfer, which will narrow the gap between rural and urban
communities and enable merchants to use mobile money transfer to reduce
transport costs and to help them to avoid being the target for opportunistic
thieves.

Vodacom Tanzania has an established and growing M-PESA
customer base, however lack of disposable cash on the part of the agent
network is seen as a major obstacle to increase agent e-money float holding
and hence transaction volumes. The MMU grant will support a project to enable
Vodacom Tanzania to provide a geographically wider line of e-money credit or
revolving credit to increase the total float holding value within the M-PESA
agent network. This additional investment will see customer access and usage
improve as entrepreneurs are empowered to invest in the M-PESA business
opportunity and grow the agent network

The MMU programme is supported by a US$12.5 million grant from
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and works with mobile operators, banks,
microfinance institutions, government and development organizations to
encourage the expansion of reliable, affordable mobile financial services to
the unbanked. The MMU Fund exists to accelerate mobile money deployments
which target base of the pyramid customers who are unbanked and is
considering applications from operators around the world.

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 or www.mmublog.org

GSMA, Richard Fogg: +44-7887-845-236, Daniel Lowther: +44-7747-636-687, press at gsm.org