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Africa|Business|Financial|PROJECT|Service|System|Operations
Africa|Business|Financial|PROJECT|Service|System|Operations
africa|business|financial|project|service|system|operations

Google deploys free WiFi stations across the Cape Flats

22nd November 2019

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Google South Africa is deploying fast, free and open WiFi hot spots across underserved, high-density locations where people spend a lot of time, such as transit stations, markets, universities and malls.

In partnership with Internet service provider (ISP) ThinkWifi, Google is enabling communities within the Cape Flats area, where connectivity barriers, including reliability, are highest, to connect to the Internet.

Google Station facilities have been deployed across more than 100 locations across Langa, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Delft, Elsies River and Philippi, besides others, says Next Billion Users Initiative business and operations officer David Shapiro.

Google Station enables ISPs, system integrators and venue owners to efficiently set up, maintain and monetise their WiFi networks and offer a public WiFi experience, reducing the cost of deployment, operations and ongoing support.

“Google Station . . . will enable you to check your email, send messages to family and friends, update all your applications and stream a high-definition video without waiting. It helps you stay productive while on the go, allowing you to go online and do what is relevant or important to you,” says Google Africa regional director Nitin Gajria.

The aim is to provide a helping hand for communities to access information through the Internet, and obtain a more equal opportunity to learn and develop and live more empowered lives.

Google Station Africa head of partnerships Adama Bari Diallo says the group works with advertising partners to enable the project’s viability and financial sustainability, with Telkom and Showmax onboarding as the first advertising partners in South Africa.

Despite significant progress globally in bringing the world’s population online through ever-expanding mobile Internet access, public WiFi remains a crucial step in getting Internet access to everyone, particularly in Africa.

According to Google statistics, only 39% of Africans have access to the Web, compared with 54% of people in Asia, 68.9% in Latin America, 87% in Europe and 89% in North America.

While access to the Internet in Africa is growing, it remains limited, with many relying on the few public WiFi hot spots to connect, communicate and learn.

A South African, for example, will have to work for five hours at minimum wage to afford 1 GB of data, Shapiro points out.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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