The Crossroads Library in Philippi Village has become the latest hotspot to receive the City of Cape Town's free WiFi offering.
In a statement, the city says this latest offering is in addition to the free Internet available through the SmartCape facility. The SmartCape project is a Cape Town initiative that aims to ensure all citizens have access to basic ICT services free of charge.
Crossroads Library users will receive a limit of 500MB of data per month and there will be a daily time limit, the statement reads.
Mayoral committee member for corporate services and compliance, Xanthea Limberg, says: "Since its relocation late last year, membership numbers and the number of SmartCape sessions have doubled at the library. Because this latest WiFi offering is a free service, we need to limit the time allocated per person to ensure that as many people as possible and new Internet users are given the opportunity to experience the World Wide Web.
"We are pleased to be able to provide free WiFi at minimal cost to our ratepayers by using our own existing network infrastructure. All of this has been achieved with a minimal capital budget of only R5 million for each of the last two years," she notes.
The City of Cape Town has set aside R218 million for its broadband network roll-out project for the current financial year. To date, R33 million has been spent on rolling out a wireless network.
The target to roll out 30 more WiFi zones by June this year has been achieved, and about 60 more are on the cards for the new financial year to June 2017, according to the city.
Limberg adds: "Libraries have moved away from solely being centres of reading to serving as centres of broader opportunity. The library of the 21st century is a place where residents can share ideas, access job and business opportunities online, and engage in lifelong learning. It is important that we continue to maintain and upgrade our libraries so that they can remain relevant in our ever-changing world."
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