The Good Things Foundation has said registered national digital inclusion network partners of the National Databank can now start offering free SIMs and mobile data (as well as minutes and texts) to people in need at a thousand UK locations.
It means a range of grassroots organisations can become national databank hubs – effectively, a kind of food bank for mobile connectivity. Recipients can access up to 40GB data a month and free calls and texts.
For example, Greater Manchester Databank distributed 20,000 SIMs to eligible residents in need via 100 national databank hubs earlier this month. Overall, almost 160,000 free SIM cards have now been granted to poorer households and Virgin Media O2 says it has committed more than 61 million GB of data to the cause.
Launched in 2021 by a range of mobile operators including Virgin Media O2 and Good Things Foundation, The National Databank has now reached the milestone of 1,000 such hubs, with the latest opening this week at the Summit Learning Trust, Birmingham. Summit comprises three secondary schools, four primary schools and a sixth form college educating almost 8000 learners.
Its chief executive officer, Vince Green, said: “By joining the National Databank, we will be able to share data plans and devices with families in our care so that they can continue to access learning, make progress and communicate effectively at home.
"Like the National Databank, we want to ensure that no one is left behind.”
Claimed to be the first cross-sector collaboration of its kind in the world, the Databank is all about trying to help the two million households struggling to afford Web access in the UK today (Ofcom 2022 data).
The organisation claims the cost-of-living crisis is sharply increasing demand for its service, with its website seeing over 80% more visits in 2023 than the previous year.
“With one in 20 UK households having no home internet access, collectively we all need to do more to help the most vulnerable people in our society connect with digital,” said Good Things Foundation CEO, Helen Milner OBE.
