00:00 It's a really sad statistic that 30% of households in the UK exist in, live with, live through
00:09 poverty and 85% of those households struggle with connectivity.
00:15 We think of the network in its literal sense, the broadband or phone network, but beyond
00:20 that you have your social networks, your friends, your family, emergency people, people you
00:25 need to contact during emergency, in instances of emergency, benefits, doctors appointments,
00:30 so many things during Covid shifted towards being more digital and online and haven't
00:36 really shifted back. So it's just further social barriers for people who can't access
00:43 connectivity.
00:44 Mobile phones are increasingly playing a critical role in modern life, but new findings reveal
00:49 that data poverty is on the rise. There's a growing disconnect between the need for
00:53 data and the number of people able to access it. It's a situation particularly noticeable
00:59 for new parents as their need for usage spikes significantly.
01:03 Parenting can become very isolating and poverty is quite isolating so to further, you know,
01:11 adding further exclusion is a terrible thing to think about. My, you know, my having been
01:16 a parent and my usage of my phone has changed as well as probably increased and it's not
01:22 for the, you know, streaming of episodes of stuff to distract my child for 15 minutes
01:26 so I can get the food ready, although that does on occasion happen. It was a huge help
01:31 in especially the early stages.
01:34 Recent research from Ofcom shows that up to a fifth of UK households have struggled to
01:38 pay their TV, internet and phone bills in the last year, with some having to cancel
01:43 services or cut back spending on essentials such as food and clothing to make payments.
01:49 To help those who are struggling, Mobile Operator Free UK has joined forces with Virgin Media
01:54 O2 and Vodafone to join a national data bank to help people experiencing data poverty.
02:02 Community groups across the UK get access to free data either by SIM cards or vouchers
02:08 that they can share with those who are digitally excluded and need support.
02:12 It's, you know, it's a shame that this situation exists for this charity to have to. Good Things
02:18 Foundation is the UK's largest data inclusion charity and it's amazing work that they're
02:26 doing but it's sad to think that we live in times where this is an issue for people.
02:30 It's hoped that other operators will join the UK National Data Bank to help close this
02:35 divide and to work together to end data poverty so that everyone can benefit from the many
02:42 opportunities that digital access offers.
02:45 I grew up in a low-income household so I understand, you know, the importance of having opportunity
02:51 to progress and, you know, people might be watching this and thinking, well, you know,
02:54 our parents didn't have phones, you know, they weren't on the internet and that's fine
02:58 but nobody else was. This is the way in which the world works now and it is pretty much
03:03 a necessity.
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