Telkom Mobile today launched a promotion that will see free WiFi made available to all South Africans via 1 500 WiFi hotspots over the next four months.
The promotion gives users an hour every day to use an unlimited amount of data, and will run until 15 December.
At the launch in Johannesburg this morning, Telkom Mobile communications manager, Nothemba Noruwana, said the company has 3 000 WiFi hotspots nationally, of which 1 500 are currently active.
The free WiFi hotspots that form part of the promotion can be found in varied locations, including outlets of Primi Piatti, King Pie, McDonald's, Hungry Lion, Wimpy, Steers, Chesanyama and Ocean Basket.
"WiFi is increasingly a lifestyle requirement. Many people take it for granted that when they go to coffee shops, get their hair done or go shopping that they will be able to access WiFi. This is why Telkom Mobile is rolling out an extensive network of WiFi hotspots," says Noruwana.
The new promotion runs separately from Telkom Mobile's existing offer of 10GB free to certain customers on voice, hybrid and data plans.
"This promotional offer lowers the barrier to access for many more South Africans, providing them with an opportunity to experience Telkom Mobile WiFi without the financial commitment," says Noruwana.
To access the free WiFi, users can SMS the word "Free" plus their e-mail address to 32707. Telkom Mobile will then reply with an access code and PIN. Once connected, the user will have free WiFi access for a consecutive 60 minutes.
Lacking
Ovum analyst Richard Hurst recently urged SA's operators to focus more on WiFi deployment as data becomes an increasing part of the mobile life of SA. "We can see that operators such as Telkom Mobile are starting to use their WiFi hotspots in their marketing messages as one way of gaining new customers, while concentrating on the overall network experience."
Telkom's mobile arm turned over R1.4 billion in the year to March and trimmed its operational loss from R2.2 billion last year to R1.7 billion. It had 1.5 million revenue-generating customers at the end of March.
Mobile data revenue increased 123.3% during the period, thanks to an increase in the number of data subscribers, and the data deals and promotional products launched during the year in line with the operator's strategy to focus on data.
Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko has said its mobile arm is vital to its convergence strategy. Telkom has defined data as a key growth area, and it will fit mobile into this.
Hurst says new initiatives, which will be independent, free WiFi access, will also see some traction as more end-users are becoming familiar with the ease of connection and what they are able to do with the WiFi connection.
S'ebastien Crozier, MD of French telecoms group Orange's local operations, has said WiFi is severely underdeveloped in SA, while Europeans have come to rely on the technology to satiate their appetites for data. "For tourists visiting SA, it is hard to understand why there is so little WiFi. This lack of accessible wireless connectivity is bad for tourism in the country."
Crozier attributes the dearth of WiFi in SA to the use of data not being important enough to local end-users. "In SA, there is a notion that data is too expensive and people should avoid using too much, but operators need to develop the use of data. When you develop the use, you increase the need. Europeans are always surprised by the low WiFi access in SA. They are used to being able to connect at any time."
However, World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck has said although WiFi is scarce outside the travel and hospitality industries in SA, it is a fallacy that it is freely available in Western countries. "WiFi on demand is certainly not ubiquitous ? even in the world's biggest cities, although closed WiFi networks are to be found everywhere."
Goldstuck notes it would not be reasonable to expect SA not to lag significantly behind European countries in WiFi rollout. "Economic development and infrastructure simply does not compare, so we can't expect WiFi to compare."
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