Social Telecoms CIC has launched two new services covering telephony and internet access specifically to help housing providers support their digitally-excluded tenants in the run up to the introduction of universal credit later this year.
For its first service, Social Telecoms has an ‘open book’ approach to telecoms pricing which means that it charges all residential and corporate customers at cost price with a service charge added for processing the connections and providing customer service for the life of the contract. Social Telecoms said that this transparent pricing model “creates remarkable savings and opens the eyes of customers to the profits generated by other telecoms providers for exactly the same products and services”.
The same pricing model is used for Social Telecoms’ digital inclusion service, with recycled computers with fully licensed Windows 7 and Office 2007 available for only £66, Google Android computers from £35 and broadband packages from £6/month.
The company’s Digital Den franchise offers local training as well as employment opportunities installing and expanding broadband and fixed-line networks.
John Clarke, director, Social Telecoms CIC, said, “We’ve been involved in the telecoms business with housing providers for over 13 years, negotiating fixed line, mobile and broadband contracts, and we realised that there was a need to deliver digital inclusion as social value.
“We save our customers money – some of our corporate customers have reported savings of over £25,000 per year on their bills – but we add social value too by helping to bridge the digital divide.”
