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Vodacom grants free access to what3words tech

Samuel Mungadze
By Samuel Mungadze, Africa editor
Johannesburg, 28 May 2020
Jorge Mendes, Vodacom Consumer Business Unit chief officer.
Jorge Mendes, Vodacom Consumer Business Unit chief officer.

Vodacom has zero-rated addressing system, what3words, for its more than 43 million subscribers across SA, saying it is the first telco to freely grant access to the life-saving technology.

The what3words addressing system and app are used to locate patients whose addresses are difficult to find.

The system divides the world into a grid made up of 3m x 3m squares, and uses algorithms to encode geographic coordinates into three dictionary words.

In an emergency, a what3words address can be given to the call handler to identify precisely where help is needed. The free what3words app works offline, but when a caller does not have the app, emergency services text a link to the what3words emergency ‘find me’ Web site which tells them the what3words address for the location.

Vodacom says the caller can then read the three words on the screen of their smartphone or data-enabled phone.

The zero-rating of the service comes after months of successful piloting, with the Gauteng Emergency Medical Services, Western Cape Emergency Medical Services and Sea Rescue South Africa using the technology.

According to Vodacom, what3words has been used to locate over 1 300 callers since early March.

To make the service more accessible, Vodacom says it has now zero-rated the what3words emergency ‘find me’ Web site, which means South Africans can access it free of charge, with no concerns over data costs or data running out.

“This is one of numerous Web sites that Vodacom is making accessible at no cost, alongside key educational, job-seeking and health Web sites, which can all be found on the ConnectU platform.”

The telco also recently zero-rated the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s uFiling Web site to help employers and employees that have been affected by the COVID-19 lockdown to claim for benefits.

Commenting on the what3words partnership, Jorge Mendes, Vodacom Consumer Business Unit chief officer, says: “For over 25 years, Vodacom has been connecting South Africans using technology to bring about a positive change and improve lives.

“The what3words technology forms parts of an existing eco-system of services such as the Vodacom SMS Emergency Service for deaf or speech-impaired customers, and the GBV Command Centre, which deals with issues around gender-based violence.

“These services play a vital role in our society. Through the use of innovative and life-saving technology, we can assist the most vulnerable citizens in their greatest times of need.”

Chris Sheldrick, co-founder and CEO of what3words, says: “What3words has seen significant adoption by emergency services around the world, including the UK and South Africa. In South Africa, vast open landscapes and informal settlements both suffer from lack of addressing, which makes it hard to find people in trouble.

“It’s amazing to see Vodacom become the first telco in the world to support their emergency services like this – and at such a huge scale.”

Emergency services have welcomed the initiative.

Dr Shaheem De Vries, medical director of Western Cape Emergency Medical Services, says: “If you happen to live in an informal settlement, or are left stranded in a remote part of our country, the anxiety and uncertainty that can accompany a call to the emergency services may prove unbearable.

“A consistent issue we noticed during piloting was that some communities were reluctant to access the what3words site because of concerns over the cost of data. Even though it is a small site in terms of data usage, it was a consistent hurdle. By zero-rating the what3words site, Vodacom completely removed that hurdle.”

“The what3words platform has already saved lives by helping our responders know exactly where the emergency is in our region,” says JP von Benecke, deputy director, communications and advanced life support paramedic at Gauteng EMS.

“Some of the informal settlements we cover don’t have street names, and locating the caller is incredibly challenging for our call handlers and teams on the ground. What3words and Vodacom have helped emergency services like ours move away from ‘where are you?’ what can you see?’ and progress to ‘we know where you are and we’re on our way’.”

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