Ooredoo Delivers Progress through Global Projects

New Broadband Commission report highlights potential of mobile technology is yet to be fully unleashed

A year after pledging its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the “Global Goals”, Ooredoo continues to build on the power of mobile broadband to enrich people’s lives and make a difference in the communities in which it operates.

Responding to the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Global Goals in 2015, Ooredoo provided an update on its on-going initiatives underway across its international footprint. It also pledged to build on these programmes, further their reach and continue to innovate as they work to transform the UN’s mission statements into reality.  

Ooredoo’s initiatives align to three of the seventeen ‘Global Goals’ – Goal 3: Good Health; Goal 5: Gender Equality, and Goal 9: Innovation & Infrastructure.  

One of Ooredoo’s flagship projects, ‘MayMay’, is an excellent example of the direct contribution mobile technology can make to improve the lives of people and create an all-round healthier world for tomorrow. MayMay is Myanmar’s first mobile app for maternal and child health, which is bridging the mobile and health sectors to help ensure that a wealth of useful maternal, child health and wellness information is readily available to women across the country both during and after pregnancy. There is fast-growing demand for the service, which is a great example of the benefits of having a mobile phone in today’s digital world. 

Achieving gender equality through the empowerment of women is another key area for Ooredoo, and one that sits at the heart of its own corporate culture. Ooredoo’s companies are proud to take the lead in providing award-winning services for women in markets ranging from Iraq to Indonesia, bringing more women online, boosting national GDP and helping create fair and equal access. Indosat Ooredoo’s Wobe (short for ‘Women Benefit’), a micro-business app with e-wallet, was developed precisely with that vision. By facilitating access to mobile phones and improving financial literacy and business skills, Wobe’s ultimate goal is to empower women in Southeast Asia and provide them with new opportunities.

Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani, Group CEO, Ooredoo commented: “The mobile sector has an important role to play in helping the UN achieve the Global Goals. Across our footprint, we are witnessing how we can make a real difference around some of the fundamental issues that the Goals address. The social impact of mobile technology in general is unprecedented, and is driving extraordinary economic growth and new ways of delivering education, health and rural development. Over the past year we have worked hard to contribute to the sustainable development of the communities in which we operate. Today, we look back with great satisfaction at our achievements, but also aware there is still a long way ahead of us. At Ooredoo we are determined to continue playing our part to achieve the Global Goals.”

The latest State of Broadband report, released just last week, concluded that while Internet access is approaching saturation in richer nations, connectivity is still not advancing fast enough to help bridge development gaps in areas like education and health care for those in poorer parts of the world. The report highlighted how the potential of mobile technology towards achieving the UN’s targets is yet to be fully unleashed, but this requires further combined investments in access, skills, and education.

Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani, Group CEO, Ooredoo added: “The report reconfirms that we are heading in the right direction. According to the latest figures, 3.5 billion people will be using the Internet by the end of this year, up from 3.2 billion in 2015 and equating to 47% of the global population. However, more still needs to be done to ensure the full potential of broadband connectivity is fully unleashed, particularly if we want to maximise the contribution it could actually have to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.” 

“The State of Broadband 2016” is the sixth edition of the Commissions broadband connectivity report. Released annually, it is the only report that features country-by-country rankings based on access and affordability for over 160 economies worldwide: 

http://www.broadbandcommission.org/publications/Pages/SOB-2016.aspx