Grameenphone Ltd. of Bangladesh has been nominated for the GSMA Best Use of Mobile for Social and Economic Development award 2007 for its HealthLine Service initiative. The HealthLine Service, implemented in cooperation with the Telemedicine Reference Center Limited, is a 24-hour Medical Call Center manned by licensed physicians and can be reached by dialing 789 from any GP number.

Doctors are on hand 24 x 7 to answer questions on medical emergencies, faciliites, drugs, and lab tests. Registered users can speak directly with a doctor about their specific condition. In a country where hospitals are few and far between, and travel is often difficult and time-consuming, this is a huge social benefit.

Registration costs Tk300 per year (about $5), and calls cost Tk15 for 3 minutes, Tk5 for every minute thereafter. (Tk60=$1.)

I discussed a fledgling telemedicine program with GrameenPhone chairman Khalid Shams while researching the book, but didn’t mention it because the program was not taking hold. It just shows you how quickly things are changing — six months later, the nascent program is well-enough developed to catch the eyes of the global GSM Association.

In 2000, GrameenPhone won the GSM in the Community award for its village-phone service, which extends telecommunications into remote rural areas. Village-phone ladies borrown money from Grameen Bank to buy phones, then lease time to villagers to pay back the loans.

The award winner will be announced at the GSMA conference in Barcelona in mid February.

The village-phone scheme pioneered by GrameenPhone in Bangladesh has been successfully implemented in Uganda and Rwanda by South Africa’s MTN, and in the Philippines by Globe Telecom. The common thread to these replications is consulting advice from the Technology Group at Grameen Foundation USA.

After several years working out the kinks and writing manuals to ease implemenation, Grameen Foundation has now released a Village Phone Direct kit, which it sells to microfinance institutions around the globe. The kit includes:

• Nokia mobile phone with earpiece
• External booster antenna for areas without strong mobile signal coverage
• Custom designed cables to connect the phone to the antenna and the recharging equipment such as a automobile battery or a solar panel

To complete the Village Phone Equipment Kit for the microfinance client, a SIM card and prepaid airtime, which can be purchased through regular outlets.