The City of Tshwane’s free WiFi project currently has 705 sites, providing public connectivity for communications, Internet and entertainment content at specific points, says Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa.

The mayoral executive committee has argued since 2013 for Internet connectivity as a basic municipal service to improve citizen interaction with the municipality, as well as to enable the access of services and information using the Internet, says City of Tshwane Group CIO Dumisani Otumile.

Internet connectivity has been proven to stimulate economic development, as people have access to services and information, and the Tshwane initiative aims to change the manner in which its citizens interact with the city and how they access various municipal services, says City of Tshwane mayoral committee economic development and planning member Aaron Maluleke.

He adds that community members can also use the Tshwane WiFi Voice mobile application (app) to make free voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) calls to another person using the app on their device. Even if users are not within range of the free WiFi, they can still use the app to make voice calls at a rate of about 10c a minute subject to their data provider cost.

“Further, at specific WiFi sites, we have rolled out the Tshwane WiFi Drive In, which enables community members to view premium entertainment for free. This gives people access to more than 30 blockbuster movies currently, and we will add about ten new movies a month. This aims to get our youths to enjoy entertainment and socialisation in a safe environment, improving social cohesion.”

They can also use their free WiFi data allocation to chat with friends over social media or participate in sports and recreation activities at these sites.

WiFi non-profit organisation Project Isizwe, led by founder and CEO Alan Knott-Craig junior, managed the design and roll-out of the project in partnership with wireless infrastructure company Ruckus Wireless, which provided the smart access point antennas and design input.

There are currently at least one or two access points in every ward of the City of Tshwane. The eventual aim is to have access points within a 1 km radius of each other in urban areas and within a 5 km radius of each other in rural areas of the municipality.

Community members are encouraged to use the free WiFi services. Citizens can browse the Internet and content available at www.Tobetsa.co.za. Users are allowed 250 MB Internet a day on every device, but can access unlimited content available on Tobetsa, including municipal services, job database searches and educational content, such as online textbooks, which can be downloaded free of charge.

“Tshwane hopes to benefit from the first-mover advantage afforded by this project, which is the envy of other cities. The policy choices and interventions implemented today must be aimed at serving our citizens in the future. About 66% of the population is 35 years and younger, while 51% is 28 or younger.

“The centre of gravity of these projects must be biased towards the youth and must aim to afford them opportunities and crucial connectivity, the costs of which are often highlighted as a barrier to start-up companies, to form their own businesses. The connectivity also enables youth to access business planning help, as well as municipal services and registration of businesses.”

The aim is to draw the youth into the formal economy, and an effective way is by providing an enabling technology environment that reduces barriers to business, concludes Ramokgopa.

Story highlights:

* The City of Tshwane rolls out WiFi-based connectivity for citizens to improve engagement and access to information.
* The project aims to deploy one wireless access point every 1 km in urban areas and every 5 km in rural areas.