Every year, the magazine Global Telecoms Business, aimed at industry leaders worldwide, presents its Innovation Awards recognizing innovative projects involving telecoms operators and service providers, in association with their vendors and suppliers.
The five award categories are: fixed-network infrastructure innovation, wholesale service innovation, business service innovation and consumer service innovation.
In addition, there are three editor’s awards for contributions to the telecoms industry, one for an industry association, one for an individual and one for a company, which Ericsson received this year.
Elaine Weidman-Grunewald, Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility at Ericsson says the company is particularly pleased to be recognized for its innovative work with the Millennium Villages Project (MVP).
“We are honored to receive this award. The MVP is a concrete example of how we are fulfilling our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals – internationally agreed targets to combat extreme poverty.”
Weidman-Grunewald says that through its contribution to the MVP, Ericsson is helping to bridge the digital divide.
“The MVP provides us with a unique ecosystem to demonstrate the benefits of voice and internet. Mobile communications significantly improve quality of life, providing tools that can deliver enormous socio-economic benefits to people in developing countries. Connectivity helps offset a lack of resources, particularly in rural areas, and provides access to a range of services, including education and healthcare.
“By making telecommunications affordable and accessible, our experience working on this project provides us with a valuable incubator for developing sustainable business models and innovative solutions that can be scalable to other parts of the world.”
The 2009 Global Telecoms Business awards were presented at a ceremony on June 16 in London, attended by about 350 industry leaders from around the world.
About The Millennium Villages Project The Millennium Villages Project is a partnership between the Earth Institute, Millennium Promise and the United Nations Development Program that provides an innovative model to help rural African communities lift themselves out of poverty. The project forms part of the initiative for rural Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - global targets for reducing extreme poverty by half and improving education, health, gender equality and environmental sustainability by 2015. The community-driven initiative currently operates in 11 sub-Saharan African countries, where it tackles challenges related to health, education, nutrition, livelihoods, gender equality and other vital issues. |
