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Konnect Africa offers rural community-based WiFi

Kgaogelo Letsebe
By Kgaogelo Letsebe, Portals journalist
Johannesburg, 10 Nov 2017
Konnect Africa brings WiFi to rural African communities.
Konnect Africa brings WiFi to rural African communities.

Eutelsat-owned satellite broadband service provider Konnect Africa will offer a hotspot service across rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa from January.

According to the company, the SmartWiFi service will use its satellite network to enable public service areas such as retailers, hospitalities, healthcare centres and schools to become a connectivity point for local rural communities.

It plans to deploy the service through partnerships with local Internet service providers and telecom operators in SA, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Established in 2015, Konnect Africa provides satellite broadband solutions throughout Africa, with the aim of enabling economic development. It aims to cover more than 20 countries by 2019 and most recently launched new-generation services in nine African countries, including SA.

Speaking at AfricaCom 2017 in Cape Town this week, CEO Laurent Grimaldi said the launch is part of the company's mission to bring digital opportunities to marginalised Africans.

"The WiFi hotspot solution is designed specifically to address the needs of the majority of the African population that lives in rural areas, where there is a need to reduce the digital divide. In leveraging the ubiquity of our satellite network and locally operated hotspots, we will foster more productive uses of digital technology to make everyday tasks easier for individuals and allow businesses in more remote areas to expand their footprint."

The hotspot solution comes with a kit that includes a satellite dish and a WiFi box that emits signals. Users will access the SmartWiFi service through vouchers or mobile payment schemes.

"Users will be able to access the Internet from a distance of several hundred metres around the hotspot and access can also be extended to several kilometres through off-the-shelf WiFi repeaters," explained Grimaldi.

Francois Boullete, director of marketing and business development at Konnect Africa, explains that SmartWiFi is unique in the sense that it includes a local data storage system, which will enable users in remote areas to access digital content, such as online courses and education programmes, free of data charges.

"Satellite broadband does not depend on terrestrial infrastructure, which makes it the best approach for remote locations. With this solution, we make it really affordable for people, starting at 50 cents or a dollar for small packages. We also have a variety of user plans, and people can pay through their local operator or use mobile payments. Companies, organisations and private individuals also have the option to sponsor access on behalf of communities."

According to Internet World Stats, there were almost 390 million Internet users in Africa as of June 2017, with a 31.2% penetration rate. The number represents only 10% of global Internet users.

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