Vodafone brings Inteet to refugees with classroom in a box and mega-charger for 66 phones - CNET

Most of the devices shown off this week at Mobile World Congress are expensive, shiny and designed for the hyper-connected world. But not all.

The Vodafone Foundation unveiled two new products at the show in Barcelona on Monday designed to bring the benefits of the Inteet to thousands of refugees in Syria and Kenya. The Foundation, which is the mobile network's philanthropic arm, runs several disaster relief projects in the countries it operates in. These are often focused on meeting the connectivity needs of the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR.

The challenges facing refugees and displaced people differ depending on the region they are in and where they are on their joueys. For people on the move, Inteet connectivity allows them to plot their next steps and to check in with friends and family who may be worried about them. For others who are semi-permanently stuck in refugee camps, the Inteet means access to services and education that otherwise wouldn't be available to them.

Syrian refugees who are making their way to Europe by way of Greece usually have good access to Inteet and even devices, but another stumbling block still prevents them from getting online.

"Unlike refugees in many other parts of the world, many of the refugee families arriving in Europe have smartphones, rather than feature phones, and there is an increasing need for access to power," said Oisin Walton, the Vodafone Foundation Instant Network programme manager in a statement.