BROADBAND equipment from Lancashire is being sent to help African children learn to read and write.

Redundant equipment from the county's schools will soon be boosting internet networks in Sudan.

Cumbria and Lancashire Education Online (CLEO), the regional specialist broadband network for education, is in the process of increasing its capacity and as a result some of its equipment is no longer needed.

Project staff tried without success to find a local home for the 10 wireless broadband radio and antenna sets, so they turned to County Councillor Vali Patel, cabinet member for schools, for advice, and he suggested that they might find a use in the developing world.

Staff at CLEO then heard about a literacy programme in Sudan, where the telecommunications infrastructure is currently poor.

Wycliffe UK, a branch of SIL, an international organisation which uses indigenous languages to promote literacy, wrote to CLEO and asked if the equipment could be sent to Sudan, to enable remote learning.

County Councillor Patel said: "The redundant equipment is still in good condition so it's really important that it should be reused."

The CLEO Network was designed based on the extensive use of wireless radio networking using the major telecommunications masts around the region.

As schools in Lancashire and Cumbria have been connected, they have used the network extensively.