Issue

Mobile connectivity continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. There is however one marginalised group of people with limited or no access to communications - refugees and internally displaced people (IDP) in the developing world. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) there are currently 9.8 million refugees and as many as 23.7 million IDP's. This means over 32 million people are living in refugee camps or settlements, with little or no access to communications and the benefits mobile communications can bring.

The GSMA Refugee Connectivity Project has been developed with the objective of demonstrating how affordable, sustainable access to voice and data communications can be provided to refugee camps and settlements to support family reunification, education, health care, economic empowerment and other urgent refugee concerns.

Objectives

• Connect refugee settlements to affordable voice and data services via GSM through the extension or upgrading of the existing network
• Provide access to ICT products and services needed by refugee settlements, for both refugees and humanitarian agencies working in refugee camps and settlements
• Develop a model which is sustainable, thereby enabling the model to scale rapidly and into new refugee territories
• Explore how the provision of wireless GSM access can support the enhanced solutions