The City of Johannesburg has launched its 5-year plan to connect over four million citizens to free Wi-Fi through over 1,000 new hotspots.
The City of Johannesburg has formally launched its plan to connect over 4 million citizens to the internet through the deployment of 1,000 new free Wi-Fi hotspots.
Fin24 Tech reports that Zolani Matabese, Head of Broadband within the city, has confirmed that over 1,000 hotspots would be installed throughout the municipality by year-end.
Read: South Africa votes against internet freedom in new UN resolution
Matabese, who was speaking at Johannesburg’s first annual Smart City Day this weekend, stated that infrastructure is in place to ensure Johannesburg is a Smart City by 2030. Speaking to Fin24, Matabese commented that “œThe goal is to offer free Wi-Fi to each and every person in the city.“
“œWe are well on our way to becoming a Smart City… We have broadband infrastructure and 1 150 km of fibre optic cable which connects every region in Joburg… We have the ability to get Wi-Fi to people and we have a system to put in place for e-government strategies. Now it is about how do you then cultivate that ecosystem,“ Matabese said.
The City previously introduced free Wi-Fi hotspots at Bus Rapid Transport stations and at certain rates offices, which offers a cap of 300MB per day.
Matabese cited his belief that connecting residents of the City would improve service delivery and employment opportunities for job seekers. “œWe have the ability to connect everyone in the city to the internet in the next three to five years. The question is then how do you then get them to use the technology, and that takes longer and once that happens people are able do things like reporting service delivery issues better,”
“œIf we encourage people to use the internet it would benefit them in numerous ways whether that is applying for a job or keeping up to date with what it going on in the world.” Matabese concluded.
The City of Johannesburg will join the City of Cape Town as both begin to roll-out access to free Wi-Fi hotspots.
The City of Cape Town unveiled three new free Wi-Fi zones within its Central Business District earlier this year, from which citizens will benefit from a capped amount of data. The City previously connected 19 clinics to the internet through the provision of a free Wi-Fi plan as part of the Digital Inclusion Project, while around 60 more free Wi-Fi zones are planned for the City‘s next financial year, and will be rolled out by June of 2017.
Read: The City of Cape Town unveils three new free Wi-Fi zones
The City of Cape Town partnered with Always On for the initiative, where the latter will manage the connections and pay for the bandwidth.
The model rivals that of the City of Tshwane, which offers a capped Wi-Fi allowance to its residents. Residents who timeously pay their rates are entitled to a further allowance of data. The City of Tshwane partnered with Alan Knott-Craig Junior‘s Project Isizwe for its undertaking.
Internet access formed a key part of the election promises of all three major South African political parties in this month’s municipal elections.
Read: ANC vs DA vs EFF: What do each promise for internet access in South Africa?
What are your thoughts on the City of Johannesburg’s plan to introduce 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots? Be sure to let us know your opinion in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
Source: Fin24 Tech
