Information and communication technology services company Ulwembu Business Services and the City of Tshwane have teamed up to reactivate and expand the stalled TshWi-Fi free WiFi network project.

Ulwembu has taken over from nonprofit organisation Project Isizwe, which exited the programme in June last year, after concluding its five-year contract to pioneer the city’s free public WiFi project.

In 2013, five free public-access WiFi hot spots were rolled out as part of the initiative. This was later expanded to 15, then 250 and ultimately 1 050 hot spots throughout the city by 2018.

The new three-year contract with Ulwembu was initially cemented in August 2018 and inaugurated in March in Olievenhoutbosch by Tshwane’s new mayor, Stevens Mokgalapa under an accelerated service delivery programme.

In his inaugural speech, he described as critical to the upliftment of communities a revival, upgrade and extension of the project, with a particular focus on empowering the community’s youth and small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) through improved connectivity.

The TshWi-Fi network is currently being upgraded and extended, with another 1 000 sites set to be deployed over the next three years.

In addition, the free data allocation access increased from 500 MB per person each day to 1 GB per person daily.

“Currently, the city has increased the number of WiFi hot spots to 1 051, with an additional five already installed in Olievenhoutbosch alone, which takes the total within this ward up to 15,” Mokgalapa explains.

In December, 35 of the planned 1 000 sites had been completed, with 200 scheduled for 2019.

Further, about 79% of the TshWi-Fi service had been successfully restored, and only 21% of the sites were down, as at March, mostly owing to vandalism and theft.

“This access to connectivity is critical for the Tshwane community to prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, providing our next generation with access to information – a critical factor in upliftment within the city.”

Further, 35 Tshwane-based suppliers, specialising in cabling and field network services, had been identified for the project’s implementation, support and maintenance and youth development programme.

The project includes the mentorship of 30 youth ambassadors over the first year of the project, who are receiving practical, on-the-ground experience and training.

“We would like to see these programmes grow to include additional supporting SMMEs and youth ambassadors over the next three years,” Mokgalapa says.

“In our capacity as the public WiFi service provider to the City of Tshwane, we are committed to helping businesses and communities move forward by supplying, provisioning, implementing and maintaining the right solutions effectively and affordably so that they can influence, change and improve the lives of the citizens of our country,” says Ulwembu MD Sibusiso Kunene.