Digital inclusion is rightly climbing higher on the business and policy agenda. So we were thrilled to get the chance to interview Ailsa Watt, Senior Sustainable Business Manager at VodafoneThree!
Here's how one of the UK’s largest telecommunications providers is now intertwining connectivity with Social Value.
Watch the full conversation below:
Or, keep scrolling to read the interview highlights!
How does better connectivity help create positive social impact?
So, Vodafone has just recently, as of the 2nd June, become VodafoneThree, and we are now trying to deliver what we are calling 'The Nation's Network.' That means superfast, consistent connectivity for everybody, no matter who or where you are.
This enables us to do things around our energy usage that make us environmentally friendly - for instance, using 100% renewable electricity and implementing things like subsea cables. How do we look at it from a biodiversity point of view? What's the added benefit from a digital inclusion point of view and an online safety point of view?
Having a really strong network is our responsibility and gives us opportunities to support the people who we wouldn't have had access to before. So, it's a really exciting time for us, and we're at the precipice of a new challenge.
How is VodafoneThree partnering with customers to tackle digital exclusion?
From a connectivity point of view, our relationships with our customers are really important for things like social tariffs.
So, we have customers who are local authorities or housing associations. If we have open conversations about what it is that we do and our pillars of digital inclusion areas and things like upskilling and digital skills, then those kinds of relationships become more of a partnership. We can partner with those customers to ensure it gets seen by the right people.
The thing with digital exclusion is that you can have all this really good information online, but if your community is digitally excluded, they're not going to see it. That's why community and customer partnerships and relationships are really important.
How does VodafoneThree balance environmental and social priorities in its strategy?
Your environmental sustainability can have a people lens to it as well.
So when we look at creating innovative tech things like environmental monitoring, we've got the capability to do things like air quality monitoring, water quality monitoring, and the impact that has on communities. Where you're adding Social Value, it tells a people story as well.
Our customers want to have mobiles from a business that they know uses 100% renewable electricity for its network, or has reuse schemes for devices. For example, we work with the Good Things Foundation: instead of shoving your device in a drawer and never seeing it again, we'll take that back and put it into the national device bank, and we'll put it back into the community.
So it’s about enabling your customers to do good things. Making sustainability and Social Value go hand in hand rather than treating them separately.
How has VodafoneThree turned sustainability goals into tangible impact?
We have recently delivered a project for the Greater London Authority, where we installed air quality monitors on Oxford Street, and we also provided Vodafone Analytics, which is overlaying footfall data.
We were able to share that information free as a donation, with Greater London Authority to say, 'Here's the information about the people that are accessing Oxford Street and the air quality levels'. Once you pedestrianise more areas, we'll be able to manage the expectations and the impact of what we're doing and the changes that are being made. So I think it's good that we can use our tech for good - which is quite catchy!
How have you found the Social Value Conference 2025?
I love the Conference. I've been having a great day, my team are having a great day, and we're seeing really good conversations about balancing your social impact strategy at the corporate level, and how you scale it down to contract level delivery, which is really relevant for customers.
We are at a stage where we are looking at 'How do we reposition our purpose and our ESG strategy and our Social Value strategy as the 'Nation's Network''? So, it's really interesting to hear from our peers here today at the Conference. Lots of food for thought.
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