November 17, 2020

Project Isizwe brings Wi-Fi to another South African community

SEACOM South Africa extends its congratulations to Project Isizwe as it marks another milestone on its journey to bringing low-cost public Wi-Fi to low-income communities across South Africa. Today, Project Isizwe is launching a public Wi-Fi project in Rambuda, Limpopo.

Through this initiative, the non-profit organisation hopes to reduce connectivity gaps and facilitate access to education, economic development, and social inclusion throughout our country. Project Isizwe believes that connectivity will help our society to move forward and prosper while promoting equality. SEACOM also shares this belief, which is why the tech company supports Isizwe from a CSI perspective, and celebrates their achievements with them.

Isizwe’s approach to Internet distribution is unorthodox, yet brilliant. By partnering with local service providers and members of the community, Isizwe seeks to create a national Wi-Fi network without having to invest in building expensive backhaul infrastructure. Harnessing local talent and infrastructure means Isizwe can enter dozens of communities and install only the very last mile – creating Wi-Fi zones within walking distance of every home, where uncapped Internet can be bought for R5.

Rambuda, a community in the very northern parts of South Africa’s Limpopo province, is the latest R5 Wi-Fi deployment project that Isizwe is delivering on. Access to Wi-Fi is critical for the empowerment of the Rambuda economy. Together with Project Isizwe, the Rambuda community formed a dedicated company to roll out public Wi-Fi zones. The partnership aims to deploy one Wi-Fi zone for every 100 homes. The network is owned and protected by the community and the profit and benefits as a result of this network go back into the community. This will contribute to creating more Wi-Fi zones and increasing Internet speed. Supporting this network and reselling data has also created new jobs within the community.

Mazwiwa Nga Vho Thovhela, officially announced and launched the Wi-Fi project on 17 November, 2020.

SEACOM is proud to be associated with an organisation that is so committed to creating a connected Africa.

“We are excited to see Project Isizwe succeed and look forward to witnessing how their work with the Rambuda community brings about positive change in South Africa. Affordable Internet unlocks a magnitude of opportunities ranging from education and skills development to increased security and access to global news and developments, and it’s critical that everyone in our country can access it,” said Steve Briggs, Chief Commercial Officer at SEACOM. He adds that South African businesses have an important role to play in partnering with NPOs and communities, and calls on businesses to do what they can to ensure that we can all participate in an increasingly digital world.