W Cape launches 50 public WiFi hotspots
The Western Cape government, together with Internet service provider Neotel, will, this month, launch the first 50 of 384 planned public access WiFi hotspots.
The 384 hotspots had been strategically located to ensure maximum coverage for all citizens. The Western Cape government was aiming to achieve complete coverage by 2019, by which time all 384 hotspots would be activated.
The WiFi hotspots would be mounted on the external walls of buildings and would point out towards nearby communities. Depending on topography, the hotspots had a range of up to 200 m.
The Western Cape government was also focused on bringing connectivity to rural areas, with a hotspot in every single ward.
Citizens would have access to 300 MB of data free for browsing on their first connection and thereafter 250 MB a month.
A specialised content portal had been devised to allow unlimited browsing of government websites, as well as a digital literacy course.
Users of the Neotel WiFi hotspots would also be able to top up at the lowest Internet rates in South Africa, at R5 a day for up to 700 MB.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Western Cape government said its main priority was to grow the economy and create jobs, and WiFi connectivity was an enabler in achieving that.
E-commerce was growing at a rate of around 30% a year, resulting in an Internet economy worth R59-billion in 2011 and making up 2% of the South African economy, which would grow to as much as 2.5% of the economy by 2016.
The World Bank had shown that a 10% increase in broadband penetration resulted in a 1.38% increase in gross domestic product.
Global telecommunications company Ericsson reported that every 1 000 new broadband connections had an impact of creating 80 new jobs and also improved the volume of new businesses registered by around 5%.
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