Uninor Gets Greentech CSR Gold Award

Uninor, the 100% subsidiary of Norway-based Telenor Group, has been acknowledged for ‘outstanding achievement in corporate social responsibility’ in the service sector. The company has been bestowed upon with the 4^thGreentech Annual CSR Award 2015 in the gold category for Project Sampark, aninitiative aimed at bridging the mobile gender gap in rural areas of India. The award was presented at a ceremony held at Kolkata on January 29.

“We are honoured to receive this coveted award.CSR is at the core to Uninor’s business strategy and we strongly believe in being a responsible corporate citizen. We are committed to extend the benefits of mobile services to the masses and the unconnected through initiatives like Project Sampark,” said Pooja Thakran,Chief Communications Officer & CSR Head, Uninor.

Project Samparkaims to address the socio-economic causes behind the mobile gender gap and increase women’s access to mobile phones in the rural areas of India. A Uninor study done by the research firm GFK in the Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh revealed that the incidence of mobile phone usage was significantly higher among males – 76 men out of 100 owned a mobile phone while only 29 women out of 100 owned one.

The Project uses innovative product and unique distribution model to make easy and hassle free mobile services available amongst rural women. It looked at approaching the barriers to mobile adoption through a two-pronged strategy to address key barriers like cost, culture, technical literacy and perception of values, which discourages women to adopt mobile telecommunication services.

Uninor has joined hands with GSMA for Project Sampark. GSMA has committed a matching grant of $70000 under the ‘Connected Women’ program, which aims at reducing the mobile gender inequality in the emerging markets like India.

The pilot phase of Project Samparkwas launched in August 2014 in UP (West) circle of Uninor. The pilot phase covers 87 villages and small towns with an addressable population of over 370,000 in Aligarh District. The project lends itself to a strong self-sustaining business case and has achieved breakeven within four months of its launch. Uninor is now evaluating its deployment to other circles in north India that have similarities of issues and market dynamics with UP West.

About The Award:

Annual Greentech CSR Awards are give by the New Delhi-based Greentech Foundation. The award, in its 4th year,is conferred upon companies/ organizations and their units demonstrating the highest level of commitment to corporate social responsibility activities. It aims to recognize exemplary CSR activities and systems and the evidence of their positive impact to business vitality and community.

About Uninor:

Uninor is a fully owned subsidiary of the Telenor Group – one of the largest integrated communications company in the world with headquarters in Oslo, Norway. Uninor’s pre-paid GSM mobile services are commercially available in the six circles of UP (West), UP (East), Bihar (including Jharkhand), Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Together, these circles account for more than 50% of India’s population giving Uninor the ability to serve every second person in India.

Uninor's three-pillar strategy of being the best in basic services, mass market distribution and low cost operations has helped the company grow to the 3rd or 4th position in customer market share in its best circles and achieve the fastest break-even as a company in just 4 years of operations. The affordable tariffs of Uninor empower 42 million subscribers to enjoy the benefits of wireless voice and data services through its simple proposition of – ‘SabseSasta’ (lowest) tariffs for all basic services. For more information, please visit www.uninor.in | www.twitter.com/UninorNews.