GlobalReach Technology & OurCalling Shelter Win Best Wi-Fi for Social Impact Award at the Wireless Broadband Alliance Industry Awards 2018
LONDON 31 October 2018: GlobalReach Technology has won the Best Wi-Fi for Social Impact Award at the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) Industry Awards 2018.
The award was given to our Wi-Fi service at OurCalling shelter, in Dallas County.
OurCalling approached GlobalReach through its IT provider Kenetic. The free Wi-Fi service was installed in May 2018, allowing shelter patrons to access social media, contact loved ones, apply for jobs, Skype, email and apply for government services.
The GlobalReach authentication service can capture personal info such as email and mobile numbers. This allows volunteers to connect with the homeless, to support them with vital information about its services, and services in the wider community.
OurCalling achieves social inclusion and safeguarding at scale, to a degree that the thousands of potential homeless users would not have been able to access through other services.
Moreover, although initially launched to support and online public services through the cost-effective on-premise public network, there is further potential for users to connect to Wireless Cities services as Dallas County and other large cities expand their interconnected public networks.
For cities already with active networks, there is the potential to connect apps through Wi-Fi.
The Wi-Fi for social impact service is now a permanent feature at OurCalling, with hundreds of daily users. The WBA awards honour the exceptional progress made in wireless networks, smart cities and remote wireless deployments among operators and technology vendors worldwide, and to recognise and encourage excellence, as well as promote successful practices and strategies in different aspects of wireless industry performance.
The WBA Awards 2018 were judged by an independent panel of industry experts, analysts and journalists. The full OurCalling story can be read here.