Vodafone UK Donates 10,000 Mobile Broadband Dongles to Kids

Mobile operator Vodafone UK has announced that they will donate 10,000 “dongle devices” (i.e. mobile broadband modems) to help thousands more children and young people connect to remote learning and online catch up lessons during the COVID-19 crisis. As usual this is focused on those kids who may lack the necessary kit at home.

The move is intended to complement the operator’s existing schools.connected programme, which has so far offered free Data SIMs (including a 30GB monthly allowance for 90 days) to 350,000 disadvantaged primary and secondary school children (plus another 150,000 SIMs via an extension with Mail Force).

Meanwhile, the new dongle scheme focuses more on the need for supporting connectivity hardware. The distribution of these will be handled by Business2Schools, which plans to distribute them to schools in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Heads can give them to children who still lack the connectivity they need to access online learning and catch-up classes, which could help even as schools reopen from 8th March.

Ahmed Essam, CEO of Vodafone UK, said:

“The pandemic has highlighted the tragedy of digital poverty and its impact on the most disadvantaged children and young people. As the education recovery mission begins, both face-to-face and online learning will be crucial, so it’s vitally important that every young person has access to connectivity.

These donations will give thousands more children access to the internet and I’m delighted we’re working with specialists in tackling digital exclusion – Business2Schools and the Raspberry Pi Foundation – to deliver connectivity where it is needed most.”

Lindsey Parslow, CEO of Business2Schools, said:

“We’re pleased that in addition to laptops, we can now provide Vodafone dongles to schools and children that need them. Many of the schools registered with us have already requested an allocation, highlighting the ongoing need for connectivity as well as devices.”

Separately, Vodafone has also made a £200,000 donation to the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s “Learn at Home” campaign, which should enable it to distribute 500 computer kits to disadvantaged young people and provide specialist training to youth workers, so they can teach digital and coding skills.

This programme is being supported with a radio campaign in which Vodafone asks the public to donate unwanted smartphones and tablets as part of its Great British Tech Appeal. Vodafone will cover the cost of postage and packing, add 6 months of free unlimited data (mobile broadband) connectivity, and send the devices to disadvantaged families via charity Barnardo’s.