Cape Town - The lack of a spectrum licence for deployment makes Wi-Fi an ideal technology to grant internet access to people, says an industry player.
"That's the beauty of Wi-Fi - you don't need a licence," Michael Fletcher, sales director for Ruckus Wireless sub-Saharan Africa told Fin24.
But with expansion of Wi-Fi comes a risk: Because the Wi-Fi spectrum is unlicensed, there is greater potential for conflict as companies and organisations race to provide access.
The answer seems to be that local government entities in SA are rolling out Wi-Fi to give citizens access to the internet.
The City of Tshwane has contracted with Project Isizwe to deliver universal Wi-Fi throughout the metro.
"Definitely Tshwane's taken the lead: They started with a small project and it was quite successful. It's slowly got bigger," said Fletcher.
National priority
The Western Cape Provincial government has also launched a Wi-Fi access programme mainly in poorer communities where the cost of data is a significant challenge to internet access.
In her State of the Province Address, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille promised that the province would see universal internet coverage in a deal signed with Neotel.
"Neotel has therefore generously committed to funding the infrastructure rollout of 384 Wi-Fi hotspots, using Western Cape Government buildings, which will cover almost every ward in the province. Our government will be subsidising the free portion of citizens' internet access," Zille said.
Modern smartphones require more data to be useful than previous generation devices. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)
Mobile broadband is a national priority as the government eyes a 2020 deadline for universal broadband access.
In President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address, he made reference to the expansion of broadband and the country's shift to digital terrestrial television.
"We will expand, modernise and increase the affordability of information and communications infrastructure and electronic communication services, including broadband and digital broadcasting," Zuma said.
However, the move toward digital terrestrial TV has been held up as national broadcaster the SABC proves unwilling or unable to migrate its services out of the key 800MHz band ideal for high speed data access.
Implementation quagmire
In Barcelona earlier this year, Ruckus demonstrated a dual antenna Wi-Fi hotspot that has an extended range for Wi-Fi, potentially taking the technology out of bars and restaurants, and into neighbourhoods and CBDs.
Fletcher believes that more private and public projects will expand Wi-Fi in SA, even as national implementation remains trapped in a policy quagmire.
"I think you'll see more of that [Wi-Fi projects] following on - where other commercial applications will become available to consumers to give them as much access as they need."
Watch what Fletcher had to in this online video:
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