Nonprofit organisation Project Isizwe has thus far deployed capacity on public-access free WiFi for at least three-million users at more than 600 sites – and Project Isizwe CEO Alan Knott-Craig Jr says it will not stop there, as the organisation’s long-term goal is to provide every South African with WiFi access.

He tells Engineering News that WiFi is the future of Africa, as its deployment entails using lowest-cost equipment.

Further, he notes that, while equipment costs are cheaper, wireless speeds are becoming faster.

Project Isizwe aims to bring the Internet to South Africans by facilitating the roll-out of free WiFi at public spaces in low-income communities.

The success of the project has been illustrated in the City of Tshwane, with eleven-million sessions having been logged from December 2013 to last month. The Free WiFi has drawn more than 440 000 unique users since it was launched in 2013, with more than 30 000 unique users a day and more than 80 000 unique users on bus WiFi.

The core focus of Project Isizwe is to harness the power of the Internet and use it as a catalyst for change.

It also assists government in planning, rolling out and maintaining free WiFi networks to trigger a multiplier effect on the economy and create employment.

The nonprofit structure enables the project to pool bandwidth, source local installers and deal with government without the traditional excessive mark-ups.

The average Internet speed provided by Project Isizwe is 7 Mb/s. Users are allowed to use 250 Mb/d, but once that is depleted, they can browse educational content on the Internet.

Project Isizwe hopes to have larger deployments outside Tshwane and would like big metros to become involved and government to adopt WiFi as one of its national pillars.

“WiFi is the future of Africa as 3G is not meant for everyone. It is expensive to roll out 3G networks and companies are running at a loss because 3G is expensive. Our short-term goal is to have government consider the Internet as a basic service,” says Knott-Craig Jr.

Citizen Journalism and WiFi TV
Project Isizwe also launched free WiFi TV, in conjunction with the City of Tshwane, in Gauteng.

WiFi TV is a free, hyperlocalised video-on-demand service that provides unlimited access for users on the Tshwane free WiFi network.

The service streams video content in various areas of Tshwane. The content is created by young filmmakers and offers relevant and engaging news and entertainment on topics such as music, current affairs, entrepreneurship, religion, jobs and sport.

The platform is used to communicate with the citizens of Tshwane using video, without the restriction of data costs.

“We went to townships and recruited unemployed youth and trained them in basic video skills. We further encouraged them to report on the happenings in and around their communities and to put together stories, which we upload on the free WiFi network,” explains Knott-Craig Jr.

He adds that government plays a big roll in the success of the initiative, adding that partnering with government is the key to ensuring the success of any initiative.