GSMA Launches mWomen Programme with Support of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Cherie Blair

Nokia and 20 Mobile Operators Pledge Commitment to mWomen Programme; GSMA Announces the mWomen Apps Challenge

WASHINGTON, October 7, 2010 - The GSMA today launched the GSMA mWomen Programme, designed to bring the
socio-economic benefits of mobile to women in developing markets worldwide.
The launch follows the GSMA's groundbreaking report with the Cherie Blair
Foundation for Women, which examined the mobile phone 'gender gap'. The
programme represents an unprecedented public-private partnership between the
global mobile industry and the international development community, and aims
to halve the gender gap from 300 million and bring the power of mobile to
more than 150 million women in developing markets, within three years. The
initiative was formally launched by Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA, with U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Cherie Blair, Founder, Cherie
Blair Foundation for Women.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outlined the benefits of the mobile
channel for empowering women in the developing world. Following on from
Secretary Clinton, Cherie Blair highlighted key findings from the report
'Women and Mobile: A Global Opportunity', which was jointly created by the
GSMA and the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, and authored by Vital Wave
Consulting. The report, the first detailed global study of its kind, shows
that 300 million women in developing countries are missing out on what mobile
can enable. By extending the benefits of mobile phone ownership to more
women, a host of social and economic goals can be achieved. There is a strong
incentive for the private sector to lend their support as closing the mobile
phone gender gap represents a US$13 billion incremental, annual revenue
opportunity for mobile operators worldwide.

"Mobile phones are an indispensible personal, economic and development
tool, but 300 million women are missing out on the mobile revolution. Helping
more women access mobile technology means they can feel safer, improve their
literacy, access vital health information and generate a better income. I am
thrilled to be an mWomen champion. I know this programme will succeed because
it has support from all sectors. It is only by working together in
partnership that we can achieve results," said Mrs. Blair.

"I am delighted and honoured to be launching this important initiative
with the backing of Secretary Clinton and Mrs. Blair, and hope that this
marks the beginning of close and continued efforts to empower and enable
women and address the barriers to mobile phone access," said Rob Conway, CEO
and Member of the Board, GSMA. "We know that mobile has proven to be a major
driver for good in society, and in particular we know the ubiquity of mobile
phones is bringing life changing benefits to those most in need in the
developing world."

The GSMA mWomen Programme will address the key barriers to women's access
to mobile phones, including total cost of ownership, technical literacy, and
cultural barriers to adoption. The vision of the programme is that by
increasing access to mobile connectivity and services, women living on less
than US$2 per day will achieve a greater sense of security, independence,
economic opportunity and connection with the world outside their homes. This
in turn will lead to greater empowerment and control over their lives and
those of their families. The programme is aligned with the UN Millennium
Development Goals, particularly MDG 3 on Gender Equity, and ECOSOC's renewed
focus on the need for greater investment in women and girls (June 2010) with
the dedicated support of mWomen champions Cherie Blair, Ambassador Melanne
Verveer, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, President of Liberia Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf and Judith Rodin President Rockefeller Foundation.

The key components of the GSMA mWomen programme include: offering
technical assistance, with activities focused on catalysing the mobile
industry to work collectively to close the gender gap and track progress,
including development of business cases for mobile phone operators; and
providing value-added services - life-changing services in the areas of
health, education, finance and entrepreneurship, to be delivered by mobile
phone operators in partnership with the international development community.

Industry Commitment

The GSMA has already secured commitment to this programme from the
following 20 leading global mobile companies operating in over 115 developing
countries: AT&T, Banglalink, Bharti Airtel, Cell C, Dialog, Digicel, IDEA
Cellular, Maxis, Mobitel, Mobilink, MTN, France Telecom/Orange, Orascom,
Roshan, Safaricom, SMART, Telenor, Telefonica, Uninor and Vodafone.

Nokia has also committed to the programme by piloting women's information
initiatives under its Ovi Life Tools service, focusing specifically on
healthcare and education. Nokia will share with the GSMA mWomen Programme
elements of its commissioned research into the barriers that may be
preventing access to telecommunications services from a functional design,
technological and affordability perspective. They will also work with other
GSMA committed partners in exploring ways to reduce the total cost of
ownership and thus increase accessibility amongst women.

"As the market leader with strong insights into the challenges faced by
people in emerging markets, Nokia is particularly aware of the issues faced
by women in getting access to quality yet affordable devices which also give
them access to locally relevant and meaningful services that can improve
their lives and the lives of their families," said Mary McDowell, Executive
Vice President, Mobile Phones, Nokia said, "While much has been achieved,
there is much more to be done and Nokia is committed to closing the gender
gap."

mWomen Base of the Pyramid Apps Challenge

To support the programme the GSMA has also launched the "mWomen Base of
the Pyramid Apps Challenge". The challenge is sponsored by Vodafone and aims
to stimulate activity to meet the significant demand for innovative app
design and to provide original and fresh customised app solutions targeted at
the specific needs of women in developing countries.

This global competition is open to all and offers the opportunity to
create the ultimate app for women in developing countries. This is a two-tier
competition; Tier 1 will be an app for a low-end device or feature phone and
Tier 2 will be an app for smartphones. The winners will be announced at the
2011 GSMA Mobile World Congress, the mobile industry's premier event, hosted
in Barcelona, at the official awards ceremony on Tuesday 15th February 2011.

Lee Epting, Content Services Director at Vodafone, said, "Vodafone has a
great deal of experience and expertise in developing products and services
for emerging markets, and I'm delighted that we have seized the opportunity
to apply that to the mWomen Programme objectives. The Apps Challenge has been
designed to stimulate innovative responses to the very real problem of how
best to serve the 300 million women currently excluded from the social and
personal empowerment of mobile telecommunications."

    The prize will include:

    - US$10,000 to the winner of each tier (to be used to assist in creating,
      testing and commercialising the app), cash prize provided by Vodafone;
    - Entrance to Mobile World Congress 2011 for one team member of each
      winning tier, as well as flight and accommodation;
    - Opportunity to showcase the winning app at the mWomen Seminar at Mobile
      World Congress;
    - Opportunity to showcase the winning app at the next mWomen Working
      Group meeting of 20 mobile operators;
    - Exclusive access to a leading venture capital firm to assist in the
      development of the winning app; and
    - Exclusive access to a leading innovation and design company.

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.

    Media Resources

    - For more information on the GSMA mWomen programme: www.mwomen.org
    - For imagery, factsheet, report and to download the mWomen film:
      www.gsmworld.com/pr_234.htm
    - For further information on how to enter the mWomen Base of Pyramid Apps
      Challenge: www.mwomen.org/appschallenge
    - The GSMA mWomen programme also launched 'mWomen Connect', its online
      portal containing best practice and case studies from MNOs, NGOs,
      women's groups, academics and other experts relating to Base of Pyramid
      women and mobile: www.mwomen.org

Claire Cranton, +44-7885-839-427, press at gsm.org