We live in a digital society where equal access to the internet, sadly isn’t a reality. According to Good Thing Foundation’s research,  2.5 million households struggle to afford the internet in the UK, and 1 in 14 households have no home internet access at all . Here are the facts*:

• 8 million households reported difficulty in affording communications services
• 3.7 million households with children do not meet the Minimum Digital Living Standard (4 in 10 households in the UK)
• 8.5 million people lack basic digital skills

*The above statistics have been taken from Ofcom reports and Good Thing Foundation’s Digital Nation infographic.

Run by the UK’s leading digital inclusion charity Good Things Foundation, the National Databank provides free mobile data, texts and calls to people living in data poverty.

How does O2 support the National Databank?

Since Virgin Media O2 joined forces with Good Things Foundation and founded the National Databank, they’ve connected over 90,000 people with O2 SIM cards, each providing free data, texts and minutes every month for up to 12 months. And they’ve increased the monthly data from 15GB to 25GB. But that’s not all, they’ve also committed to providing 152,000 SIM cards to the National Databank by the end of 2025.

The majority of O2 stores are a National Databank

Their teams across the UK are doing their bit to fight data poverty – 241 out of 305 O2 stores are now databanks, including the Broadmead store. So, if you know someone in need of free connectivity, why not find your nearest databank and share it on?

More information about the scheme on O2’s website.