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Free Wi-Fi partnership to boost SA internet access

Cape Town - South African communities are set to have access to increased Wi-Fi coverage as organisations roll out internet connectivity on a large scale.

Online classifieds platform Gumtree announced on Wednesday a partnership with Project Isizwe to deploy free Wi-Fi for South Africans.

Project Isizwe has been rolling out the City of Tshwane's Wi-Fi project to connect the population to the internet and Gumtree partnered to deliver a number of internet zones.

"Our aim is not only to connect economically disadvantaged individuals to the internet for the first time, we also have the larger goal of connecting those individuals with opportunities such as 60 000 jobs registered on our site, or to gain free exposure for their own businesses by tapping into the platform and our user base", said Gumtree country manager Johan Nel.

These internet zones will allow people to connect with mobile devices to the web, but will have a 250MB per day, per device data cap.

Universal access

Tshwane began rolling out a free Wi-Fi network in 2013 and the plan is to expand the network to universal access and connectivity as part of the city's vision.

"Tshwane has made history by becoming the first metro to roll out free Wi-Fi and indeed our announcement of the provision of this service was made before the City of New York's announcement, this is indeed a ground-breaking achievement for an African city", Executive Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa said in his State of the Capital City Address.

Some have argued that the free Wi-Fi project is too slow for a decent internet service.

"The average speeds of the Tshwane free Wi-Fi network are 7mbps. That’s fast enough for most rich people, never mind poor communities", Alan Knott-Craig jr, the brains behind Project Isizwe told Fin24 recently.

Gumtree said that once the cap has been reached, users would still be able to access site content for free.

"However, once the cap has run out, users will still be able to access a specialised content portal known as Tobetsa, which includes access to Gumtree's portal for job seekers and educational information", said the eBay-owned firm.

GDP growth

The second phase of the free Wi-Fi project will see an additional 213 Free Internet Zones roll out in Soshanguve, Mamelodi and Atteridgeville.

"Connectivity is crucial to the economy. In emerging nations such as China, Brazil and India, the internet contributed as much as 11% to the growth of their GDP in recent years", said Nel.

Gumtree also plans a rollout of the internet zones in eight schools in Atlantis and Robertson in the Western Cape in an effort to connect a further 20 000 to the internet.


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