Virgin Media O2 has partnered with Big Issue Group to offer every one of its street vendors free O2 SIM cards and data vouchers.
The social enterprise’s network of street vendors is mostly made up of people battling homelessness and poverty, using Big Issue to develop financial independence.
The network provider tie-up is an extension of its partnership with the foundation that also saw O2 give Big Issue vendors free data plans last year. The initiative allowed the magazine sellers to take contactless payment when a reported 52% of sales reportedly came via contactless.
According to Big Issue, sellers who use contactless make 35% more than those who do not.
The scheme is part of Virgin Media O2’s wider aim to tackle data poverty. The firm’s 2022 Christmas campaign ‘The Snowgran’ highlighted that two million UK households are at risk of digital exclusion amid the winter cost of living crisis.
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“We know from the success of last year that this connectivity is crucial to facilitating mobile payments in an increasingly cashless society as well as helping vendors to stay connected to loved ones and get access to key services,” Virgin Media O2 chief commercial officer, Gareth Turpin, said.
Collaborating with national digital inclusion charity Good Things Foundation, Virgin Media O2 is set to give free mobile connectivity to people who need it through its National Databanks.
