Minibus taxi commuters will get 50MB/month of free Wi-Fi data as part of a plan to roll-out broadband Internet access to commuter taxis countrywide.
Santaco, the South African National Taxi Council, has taken the wraps off the service, called WiTaxi, at a launch event in Soweto.
The taxi body is rolling out WiTaxi through its commercial subsidiary TaxiChoice. Telkom is providing the 3G and 4G bandwidth that will be used in the taxis to provide commuters with Internet access.
“This initiative is part of Santaco’s long-term vision … aimed at modernising, revitalising, transforming and developing the taxi industry into a world-class taxi service,” said association president Philip Taaibosch.
Santaco claims the initiative will eventually provide more than 15m commuters with access to the Internet.
Phase one of the project will see Wi-Fi access points rolled out to 1 500 taxis and about 50 taxi ranks. This phase will take about six months. The second phase will see the installation of between 4 000 and 5 000 Wi-Fi access points per month.
It is expected that more than 90% of all taxis and taxi ranks will be covered within the first three years, Santaco said.
“Each commuter will receive 50MB of free data a month,” said Santaco secretary-general Vernon Billet. — © 2014 NewsCentral Media
- The Soweto launch is ongoing … check back soon for more