Entelek IT Services, a turnkey ICT solution provider with a mission of connecting underserved consumers to the Internet, has partnered with South African fintech A2pay to roll out Wi-Fi hotspots to informal retailers nationwide that use A2pay point-of-sale (POS) solutions.

This partnership will bring advertising-subsidised free and low-cost Wi-Fi services to more than 2 500 sites over the next two years, while providing advertisers with access to an expanded retail audience.

Entelek, and its media agency Now Online today have a large Wi-Fi network with hundreds of access points, including train stations, taxi ranks, rural shopping centres and other venues nationwide. Partnering with A2pay will allow Entelek to dramatically scale up the number of users and access points on its Pasella free Wi-Fi network, while enabling A2pay merchants to attract more footfall and create a new revenue stream.

Small merchants such as spazas, kiosks and shebeens use the A2pay Biz POS terminal to run their businesses enabling them to monitor sales, profit and stock levels each day and sell prepaid products such as airtime and electricity from the POS terminal. Because Pasella and A2pay use similar technology stacks, the two platforms could be seamlessly integrated to enable merchants to add Wi-Fi to their offering.

Each month, users on the Pasella network enjoy free data that would cumulatively cost them between R5-million and R10-million if they had to buy it. With the A2pay partnership, Entelek aims to increase that number tenfold and reach R100-million or more in free and subsidised data per month. Entelek and A2pay will activate a hundred sites a month up to the end of 2022, ramping up the roll-out next year to reach a thousand sites by the second quarter and 2 500 by the close of 2023. This will create one of the largest free Wi-Fi networks in Africa.

Benefits

Says Johan van Wyk, CEO and founder at Entelek IT Services: “Entelek and A2pay share the vision of empowering excluded rural and township communities to enjoy the advantages of digital technology. We are excited to work with A2pay to help bring affordable Internet access to more communities so that they can enjoy the full educational, economic and lifestyle benefits it offers.

“We currently serve millions of users nationwide, but this partnership allows us to dramatically increase the number of people we serve and the areas we can reach, providing free and low-cost Wi-Fi where it’s needed most. Eventually we want to be present wherever there are South Africans who cannot afford the high costs of mobile data.”

Says Rob Roux, CEO at A2pay: “We believe that creating wealth through social economic development is a just cause, a conviction we share with Entelek. This partnership will create enormous value for our merchants and their customers, contributing towards sustainable businesses and communities that are equipped to participate in the digital economy.”

Entelek IT Services and Now Online delivers effective digital advertising to subsidise the cost of the free Wi-Fi service to the consumer and improve digital inclusion. Many of South Africa’s leading retail and financial services brands and major digital buying agencies support the service. This approach enables Entelek to generate sustainable revenues while providing cheap or free Wi-Fi connectivity to consumers.

Pairing the Pasella customer engagement toolset with A2pay’s POS data will give advertisers and sponsors opportunities to engage with the customer at the point of purchase. They will be able to track the efficacy of campaigns with sales data direct from the POS. The engagement tools also integrate with the POS for functionality such as incentives, QR codes, vouchers and surveys.

For more information, contact Johan van Wyk on 071 309 0928, or +27 71 309 0928 for calls from outside South Africa.