When we first developed the program, many professionals were skeptical about the capacity of illiterate people to understand and use state-of-the-art telecommunication technology. Today Grameen Bank - which has 150,000 village phone ladies and will have 200,000 by the end of the year -- proved them wrong. The replication in Uganda - still quite small but growing rapidly -- clearly shows that information and communications technology is needed by all, regardless of income status. Village Phone fosters meaningful, lasting change in people's lives. It brings economic benefit to the local entrepreneurs who run the service like a public pay phone system, gives their communities greater access to government services and markets for their products, and connects them with friends and relatives living in other areas.