PCs to schools in developing countries

The partnership also ensures that the equipment will be disposed of in an environmentally-friendly manner when it is no longer useful to the recipient countries.

80% reuse of equipment
The average lifespan of a computer at Telenor is approximately four years. After that time, computers will now be given new life in schools in Eritrea - one of the world's poorest countries. Right now computer classrooms containing several hundred laptop PCs are set up at 25 different schools. As the partnership moves forward, new projects in other developing countries will also benefit from ICT equipment from Telenor.

"The high quality of the Telenor equipment enables us to reuse more than 80 per cent of what we receive. As a result, we will each year be able to give close to 100 schools fully adequate data classrooms based on equipment provided exclusively by Telenor," explains Knut Foseide, Head of FAIR.

Environmentally-friendly reuse
As part of the agreement FAIR will ensure that all existing information on the computers is deleted before they get new owners. When the equipment can no longer be used in the recipient countries, FAIR ensures that the equipment is managed in an environmentally-friendly way, and is transported back to Norway.

All ICT equipment that FAIR transfers to its development projects, or a similar amount of EE waste, is returned to Norway and delivered to approved disposal plants. The project in Eritrea also has a strong environmental profile, as the data equipment in the schools that receive equipment from Telenor is powered exclusively by solar energy.

Good tools are required
"At Telenor we know the value of good ICT tools. We want to be an enabler for growth and new opportunities by providing good communications solutions. Good working tools are required to achieve this. FAIR maintains a high reuse percentage of the equipment they receive, and we are very pleased to enter into a partnership which has so many positive impacts," said Hilde Tonne, Executive Vice President Communications at Telenor.

Largest transfer of ICT equipment to a developing country
Telenor's support to FAIR's partnership programme FairRecycling ensures that several hundred thousand schoolchildren will enjoy access to ICT in the coming years.

"This is without comparison the most extensive partnership for transfer of ICT technology from Scandinavia to a developing country," said Knut Foseide. FAIR is the only humanitarian organisation in Scandinavia that works with the distribution of ICT in developing countries. The organisation reuses data equipment in projects in Africa, Asia and South America.

Contacts

Ola Jo Tandre, Acting Vice President Group CR Telenor
Tel: +47 951 74 579. E-mail: ola-jo.tandre@telenor.com

Knut Foseide, Head of FAIR
Tel: +47 23 12 21 05. E-mail: knut@fair.no

Terje Tjensvoll, Senior Advisor FAIR,
Tel: +47 23 12 20 83. Mobile: +47913 75 136. E-mail: terje@fair.no