Energy access is a key enhancing factor of poverty alleviation in most of the developing world. Extending grid infrastructure in rural areas is particularly difficult due to financial, commercial, regulatory as well as geographical constraints. This webinar will present the Telecom Energy Initiative of the World Bank that explore innovative business models capable of achieving rural electrification through the synergies between mobile telephony infrastructure and energy needs of rural communities. Project leaders Monali Ranade, Mohua Mukherjee and Reinhard Reichel will introduce the goals, initial findings and potential impacts of this initiative as well as explain why a wide stakeholders' coalition is required to address this crucial issue.