The Eastern Cape is set to get free WiFi

Its looks like in the very near future the Eastern Cape will be getting free WiFi thanks to the non-profit organisation – Project Isizwe.

In 2013, Project Isizwe already made headlines when they provided the City of Tshwane with free WiFi. And now, new projects are underway in Tshwane, with the introduction of an internet TV service as well as an instant messaging platform.

The brains behind Project Isizwe, Alan Knott-Craig jnr said, “Everyone says ‘it’s easy in Tshwana, but you can’t do it in a rural area’, but here we are!” He also went on to say that the pilot will focus mainly on the Department of Higher Education to deploy free WiFi on campus and for surrounding communities throughout the country.

Unfortunately the WiFi deployment is only set to happen on June 17^th. If you think about it Project Isizwe’s goal to provide free WiFi in the Eastern Cape is very similar to Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s drive to push internet.org – despite the criticism the platform got!

When Zuckerberg announced the availability of internet.org in Malawi he stated that giving people free WiFi is simply the right thing to do. Facebook will keep connecting more people and more countries, and won’t stop until every single person in the world can connect to the internet.

But, Project Isizwe hasn’t forgotten about Tshwane either, as their city-wide WiFi programme continues to grow beyond expectations. The service has exploded and is now available in 96 wards with 575 live sites. Not to mention, Project Isizwe boasts 161 577 users of the service, this is up from just 1567 in 2013!

The free WiFi project was first initiated in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, and they are still considering how to best offer citizens internet access.

Project Isizwe has said, “We continue to try to engage the municipality, but they are going through an internet process (two years and counting) as to how to take Stellenbosch Free WiFi forward.”

So, it’s through amazing projects like Project Isizwe that the whole of South Africa will begin to get high speed internet service through a dedicated WiFi connection.

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Written By: Christine Romans
CopyWriter at The Computer Guyz Cape Town