Wi-Fi access in South Africa is on a growth path, but more needs to be done to ensure the technology delivers on its potential to boost local gross domestic product (GDP), says an industry body.<\/p>\n
“South Africa has just over 0.03% of the globe’s almost 300 million Wi-Fi hotspots when the GDP value of our economy represents almost 0.6% of the world’s output,\u201d said Wi-Fi Forum of South Africa (WFFSA) president Andile Ngcaba.<\/p>\n
According to research organisation BMI-T, SA has around 8 000 active Wi-Fi hotspots at more than 30 000 locations, with growth set to continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic Wi-Fi has gained a lot of popularity in the last 12 to 18 months and continues to gather momentum,\u201d Christopher Geerdts, associate Telecoms Consultant at BMI-T told Fin24.<\/p>\n
But Ngcaba, a former director general in the department of communications, wants to push the industry to produce Wi-Fi networks in partnership with mobile operators.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to deepen our engagement with the industry and sell the concept of the heterogeneous network,” he said, referring to interlinked 3G, 4G, small cell and Wi-Fi networks.<\/p>\n
Global mobile phone body the GSMA found that at the end of 2013, there were only 150 million people in the Sub-Saharan Africa with access to the internet.<\/p>\n
“This is equivalent to an overall mobile internet penetration rate of only 17% of the total population, compared to a global average figure of just over 30%. This figure will more than double by 2020, reaching 38%, with an additional 240 million people across SSA gaining mobile internet access by that date,” the organisation said in its The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa 2014 report.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the WFFSA in the past six months has engaged with industry stakeholders on how to best proceed with expanding internet access in SA.<\/p>\n
“Operators restricting access to their networks is counter-productive and is holding South Africa back from achieving universal access and poverty-beating economic growth,\u201d said Ngcaba.<\/p>\n
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