Solidarity

Bouygues Telecom has rolled out its “Don de Giga” program for a second time. The beneficiaries of the digital data donations are four non-profit associations dedicated to combatting digital marginalization and social exclusion. By making employees and customers active participants in this solidarity initiative, the operator is also heightening awareness of these issues.

By Émilie Dupas

a paradox and a remedy

Mobile Internet usage rose by 150 percent between 2018 and 2020, with growth expected to double between now and 2023 and again between 2023 and 2026. Nevertheless, about one out of ten French people lacks Internet access for want of a digital device¹. These individuals thus find themselves marginalized in their social interactions, for example, when looking for a job or dealing with official business. And considering that about 250 official procedures will be performed digitally by the end of 2022, such a handicap problem.

To help remedy this situation, Bouygues Telecom launched its second “Don de Giga” campaign between 29 September and 6 November 2022. As in the first one, conducted in 2020, some 10,000 employees of the operator and its mobile phone customers were offered the opportunity to to donate one giga of data from their mobile plan ton one of four non-profit associations: APF France handicap, Fage, Petits Frères des Pauvres, or Social Builder. One giga might seem a trivial amount, but it does represent 60 hours of surfing the Internet or streaming music for two hours or doing a host or other things online.

Thanks to these donations, the four associations will reveive twenty thousand 20-Go data plans, 10,000 smartphones, and free publicity via the media campaign carried out by Bouygues Telecom for this program. The collection phase is now ended, and the association will begin giving out the phones and a data credits to the people they assist in January, with the distribution continuing over nearly a full year.

20 000

20GB DATA PLANS

250

OFFICIAL PROCEDURES

With this donation, we want to heighten our customers and employees’ awareness of the activities of our partner associations. The societal role of the company is fundamental.

Benoit Torloting

CEO – BOUYGUE TELECOM

A PIONEERING INITIATIVE

Supporting non-profit associations is a strategic priority of Bouygues Telecom. It is being pursued with initiatives like Bbox Asso, a Bbox Internet product providing specialized that is offered at cost price, and a digitalization performance score that is used to give helpful advise. The operator has also created a platform where people can sign up to volunteer for an association.

10 000

Employees and mobile customers of the operator were able to give a symbolic giga to one of the four associations

3 questions to

Sébastien Hamonic

Brand Image Manager at Bouygues Telecom

By deciding to help four associations in this second campaign rather than just one, the company was responding to a call from its customers to help multiple categories of the population.

This is the second edition of Don de
Giga. Can you tell us in a few words
where this idea comes from?

The idea came out of an internal initiative to promote innovation called “Les Explorateurs” in 2017. When the new brand platform “On est fait pour être ensemble” (We’re made for each other) was launched, the idea emerged in interviews conducted with employees and itreceived massive approval from existing and prospective customers as a factor of differentiation. It’s not by chance. Solidarity is in our DNA, as proven by what the Bouygues Telecom Foundation has been doing for nearly 15 years. It’s who we are, and it is in line with our strategic priority of making ad global, longterm commitment. By deciding to help four associations in this second campaign rather than just one, the company was responding to a call from its customers to help multiple categories of the population.

Has this second edition been as
successful as the first?

In the campaign in December 2020, when we partnered with the Red Cross, 242,299 gigas were collected. This year, we got 254,804 gigas, so it was a better score than in the first edition. Les Petit Frères des Pauvres and APF France handicap received the most. We want to continue doing these drives in the future, since they are an excellent way to heighten public awareness.

242 299

Gigas collected in Decembre 2020

254 804

Gigas collected in January 2023

What impact has this initiative had on customers, employees, and the public?

We conducted a survey of our stakeholders at the end of the first campaign. It revealed that one person out of four in France had heard about it. It engendered a sense of pride with 84 percent of our customers. The feedback was positive, notably from official quarters. More than 50 percent of the company’s employees participated in the second edition of Don de Giga. That has allowed us to establish a commitment to the program, and we are going to continue to communicate on this subject. A media campaign, “Giga Merci,” will be launched in the first quarter of 2023.

84%

of our employees engendered a sense of pride

+50%

of the company’s employees participated in the second edition