The Village Phone is a concept that combines the experience of the Grameen Bank with village-based micro-enterprises and the latest digital wireless technology to provide modern telecommunication services to the poor in Bangladesh. The Grameen Bank plays a vital role in the execution and expansion of the Village Phone programmes through Grameen Telecom, a not-for-profit company that has been entrusted with the responsibility of providing telecommunication services in rural areas.

The objectives of the Village Phone programme are to provide easy access to telephone services in the rural areas of Bangladesh and to initiate new income-generating options for villagers by gradually bringing the full potential of the information revolution to their doorsteps through the use of telecommunication as a new weapon against poverty.

Enhanced labour mobility and the marketing of agricultural products have resulted in enhanced demand for telephone services. The Village Phone programme provides universal access to telephone services in rural Bangladesh. A person may not own a telephone but she or he now has access to a telephone nearby.

The Village Phone programme promotes community phones in villages where private telephones are still a rarity. There are currently 5,000 village phones operational in Bangladesh and they provide telephone access to some 12.5 million rural people. GrameenPhone charges taka 2.00 per minute for local calls at peak hour, compared to taka 4.00 for urban subscribers.