Schoolchildren in Birmingham who dont have landlines at home are benefiting from free web access to learning programmes and education resources thanks to a join initiative from Vodafone UK and Birmingham City Council.
The two organisations are working together to loan laptops to over 450 children, including mobile broadband Internet. As part of the project, Vodafone has also implemented its Vodafone Secure Remote Access service, so that the programme can be extended safely to participating families, without compromising the security of the Councils network, data or hardware.
Councillor Les Lawrence, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families at Birmingham City Council says: This is a highly flexible and cost effective way for us to provide some of the most disadvantaged homes in the region with mobile broadband access and make sure that the children have every opportunity to improve their education.
The programme, funded by Government agency Becta, is also benefitting parents in the families by giving them the opportunity to develop their ICT skills alongside their children and contribute to their education. Many of the parents have also been able to look at online reports provided on their childs progress for the first time.
Vodafone UK recently revealed that its Vodafone Secure Remote Access solution has been awarded the CESG Claims Tested Mark (CCTM) quality mark by CESG, the information assurance arm of GCHQ.  Vodafone is the first UK mobile operator to receive the CCTM mark, which verifies the claims companies make for their security solutions for data confidentiality, integrity and availability in the modern public sector IT environment.