County Broadband Donate £10k Worth of Computers to Digital Essex

Alternative UK network operator and ISP County Broadband, which holds an aspiration to cover 500,000 premises across the East of England with their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network by the end of 2027, has donated £10,000 worth of computers to Digital Essex to tackle digital exclusion.

The provider, which has so far raised an estimated £10k with its donation of 12 laptops and 6 desktop computers, have partnered with Digital Essex to support its Laptop Recycling Scheme in which unused laptops under seven years old are digitally wiped and recycled. The money raised is then used to buy brand-new laptops for individuals and families classed as being ‘digitally excluded’.

People identified as ‘digital excluded’ are defined as being unable to access digital technology adequately or permanently. This could be through a lack of digital skills for educational reasons or being unable to afford devices such as smartphones or computers for financial reasons, or both.

An estimated 1.3 million UK households do not own an internet-enabled device, according to a recent government report on digital exclusion.

Craig Larter, Stakeholder Engagement Manager at County Broadband, said:

“We are pleased to be able to donate these laptops knowing they will help those in need across Essex to access important everyday online services that are easy to take for granted.

In our increasingly digital world, no-one should be excluded from the right to benefit from online banking or digital health services that can make a huge difference to the lives of vulnerable people.

We are committed to supporting our rural communities, whether that’s through our full fibre rollout or supporting a good cause, and we look forward to partnering again with Digital Essex in the future.”

The full fibre provider, which is being supported by a £146m investment from Aviva Investors (here), is currently deploying full fibre across rural parts of Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk in England (i.e. they’re currently building to over 250 villages and rising). Aviva also backs Truespeed (here) and ITS Technology (here) etc.

Customers typically pay from £37.99 per month (reduced from £47.99) for an unlimited symmetric speed 300Mbps service with a bundled wireless router on a 24-month term, which rises to £49.99 for 900Mbps (reduced from £79.99).