Uninor launches project Sampark to bridge mobile gender gap

GSMA will provide $70,000 for the Project Sampark, which will be implemented in UP West, UP East and Bihar

In a bid to bridge the mobile gender gap, Uninor today said it along with GSMA will invest $1,83,654 over a period of seven months for an initiative that aims to increase women's access to use of mobile phones.

GSMA, the industry body, will provide $70,000 for the Project Sampark, which would be implemented in UP West, UP East and Bihar.

As part of the project, Uninor would launch a pair of SIMs that will be linked to each other and recharge of one SIM would result in additional bonus minutes added to the second SIM.

The company has designed the offer in such a way that one of the SIMs has to be used by a woman.

"Realising the need to provide mobile benefits to women living in the rural areas, we have developed a product, which will be a value proposition for women subscribers who still haven't experienced the mobile services," Uninor CMO Rajeev Sethi said here.

He added the SIM cards will also be made available at the customer door step through women promoters.

The company plans to sell 6,000 connections every month under the project, which was launched last month in a pilot phase in 87 villages of Aligarh district.

Uninor said the initiative is being launched as a pilot project to assess the barriers that women face in accessing mobile services such as affordability, mental block or social problems attached with women who own a handset.

The project will aim to enhance tele-density among women especially in the rural pockets of India, Sethi said.