Is free Wi-Fi the answer for SADC’s economic woes?

Lazarus Sauti

The digital revolution of the 21st century is, devoid of doubt, based on the Internet, which is the driving force.

Without a high-speed Internet connection, the citizen is excluded from today’s information society.

In some countries, the essential role of this tool is well understood and the right to means of communication and to broadband Internet access is spoken of as a basic human right.

On the other hand, Internet connectivity is rarely mentioned as evidence that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has successfully entered the information and knowledge society.

In fact, the Internet is poorly developed in most, if not all, countries within the regional bloc.

This, therefore, demands answers from two crucial questions. Is the SADC region becoming marginalised because of its lack of Internet connectivity? Is free Wi-Fi the answer for the region’s socio-economic woes?

Dennis Magaya, the Chief Executive Officer of Rubie Technologies, believes Internet access should be treated as a fundamental right and the provision of free Wi-Fi offers countries within and across the SADC region vast opportunities for affordable high quality internet that will drive mass market applications for e-Government services, retail services on top of hospitality services.

“The provision of free Wi-Fi in countries within the regional bloc is key to the efficient functioning and development of the telecommunications industry, businesses and the economy,” says Magaya, adding that “high speed, high quality, affordable Wi-Fi is the foundation of an innovative Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector that will enrich the quality of life for citizens.”

Magaya goes on to add: “Since most remote areas in the SADC region have no broadband at all, free Wi-Fi also provides an alternative to bring broadband to these marginalised areas.”

Sharing same sentiments, Michael Fletcher, sales director for Ruckus Wireless sub-Saharan Africa, classifies Wi-Fi as a basic service, along with water and electricity. “The availability of free Wi-Fi is “like running water or electricity – you expect it to be there, and if you do not have it, you are at a serious quality-of-life disadvantage,” explains Fletcher.

Alan Knott-Craig Jr of Project Isizwe: Free Wi-Fi for South Africa is as well of the view that free Wi-Fi in townships allows the unemployed to look for jobs online and email Curriculum Vitaes (CVs).

He also adds that education is obviously the other major benefit of free Wi-Fi, as kids and older students can study online, download textbooks, and generally access information about the world.

Nevertheless, Knott-Craig believes government commitment to the rollout of free Wi-Fi is pivotal if it is to be the panacea to the region’s problems. “Without government, it is impossible. The communities being covered have limited disposable income,” says he.

Contributing on how the growth of free Wi-Fi is transforming life in Africa, Nick Gentile, conversely, says that the problem with free Wi-Fi in Africa is that while governments commit to rolling it out, nobody considers operations costs, and no, it is not realistically feasible for subsidised government costs since it distinctly violates the subsidy rule employed by most African regulators and it takes money out of more critically important activities.

“Governments have no business doing this. They should let operators play around with this and focus more on what governments need to be doing,” he noted.

In most SADC countries, the high costs of current options, such as deploying new fixed infrastructure or large-scale macro-cellular wireless models like WiMAX (the industry term for standard network technologies supporting long-distance wireless broadband), are big barriers to further broadband subscriber growth, yet the demand for Wi-Fi is there, and that is where institutional stakeholders such as states (governments), national regulatory authorities (NRAs), regional economic communities (RECs) and information and telecommunications experts come in.

Consequently, together with committed development partners and stakeholders, regional leaders must create Community Multimedia Centres (CMC) in remote areas to facilitate the provision of free Wi-Fi for rural populations.

More so, they must take a more strategic view of Wi-Fi.

“Wi-Fi has become a much more strategic technology today and as such, businesses and organisations across the spectrum need to become more strategic about what type of Wi-Fi should be implemented,” says Fletcher.

Frankly, the provision of free Wi-Fi initiative will boost economic growth and opportunities in the SADC region as well as improve digital literacy. Therefore, regional countries with help from generous development partners must recognise that free Wi-Fi plays a crucial role in economic growth, development and job creation.

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