Stellenbosch set for landmark Wi-Fi internet rollout

23 February 2012

The South African town of Stellenbosch is set to become the country's unofficial technology capital in the next few weeks, when municipal authorities will offer free Wi-Fi internet access to all the residents.

Mayor of Stellenbosch Conrad Sidego explained that the landmark initiative had between devised between Stellenbosch, Mxit and the University of Stellenbosch.

Officials have confirmed that the internet service will be free of charge to everyone in the town and no registration is necessary.

Pieter Venter, Stellenbosch councillor and head of the municipality's finance portfolio, told Africa News that the trial is set to go live tomorrow (February 24th), at which point a sizeable number of people in the town will have Wi-Fi internet access for the first time in their lives.

Meanwhile, Alan Knott-Craig Junior, the chief executive officer at Mxit, explained: "We are psyched to help promote Stellenbosch as the true tech capital of Africa.

"Although free Wi-Fi can never compete in performance with paid-for services, it does provide a magnet for creativity and engineers."

Category: ICT