Vodacom Donates Smartphones, Data, Minutes Worth R40-m to Department of Health

Vodacom will donate 20 000 smartphones plus 100 terabytes of data and 10 million voice calls minutes to the National Department of Health.

The donation is worth R40 million.

This will be used by frontline health workers to collect and transmit data in real-time for resource planning purposes as the government accelerates its COVID-19 testing campaign.

The donation Vodacom will also assist the Government by ensuring that medical care resources are efficiently and effectively distributed to help those who are infected or require critical medical assistance.

Each of the 20 000 smartphones will be loaded with 5GB of data and 500 voice minutes to be used to facilitate the immediate collection and transmission of data to the National Department of Health COVID-19 Information Centre to assist with resource distribution planning. Samsung Africa will cover the cost of 5 000 of the 20 000 devices.

“Through this initiative, Vodacom seeks to support government’s objectives to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus by flattening the curve and lowering the infection rate. Achieving this will require a massive collaborative effort and we’re delighted with Samsung Africa’s investment of 5000 smartphones into this initiative,” Shameel Joosub, Vodacom Group CEO, said.

President & CEO of Samsung Africa, Sung Yoo, said: “As Samsung we are conscious of the increasingly important role technology will have in the fight against COVID-19. Our frontline workers need to be equipped with secure smartphones that enable quick contact tracing and communication in order to slow down the rate of infections in the country. Dealing with the pandemic requires a strong collaboration between Government and the private sector and we are honoured to have been able to contribute on this project with Vodacom.”

As part of its COVID-19 response, Vodacom has significantly increased investment in its network to keep customers seamlessly connected as more people work from home. This includes ensuring its free ConnectU portal can handle the significant increase in traffic, as people use essential services such as Vodacom e-School, which gives learners access to curriculum-aligned content from grade R to 12 in all 11 official languages so that they can continue to work from home during the extended break.

Vodacom has also zero-rated Sacoronavirus.co.za and put measures in place to ensure that the National Gender-Based Violence Command Center remains operational at a time when our more vulnerable citizens need assistance the most.