TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      State capture probe ends but South Africa remains ‘broken’ by corruption

      23 June 2022

      Vivica Group, formerly Vox, looks beyond ICT

      23 June 2022

      Protests break out at Eskom plants

      23 June 2022

      South Africa scraps public mask mandate

      23 June 2022

      Crypto is not too big to fail

      23 June 2022
    • World

      Crypto crash survivors could become ‘tomorrow’s Amazons’

      23 June 2022

      Tether to launch a stablecoin tied to the British pound

      22 June 2022

      Tech giants form metaverse standards body, without Apple

      22 June 2022

      There are still unresolved matters in Twitter deal, Musk says

      21 June 2022

      5G subscriptions to top one billion in 2022: Ericsson

      21 June 2022
    • In-depth

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022

      Sheryl Sandberg’s ad empire leaves a complicated legacy

      2 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Start-up Mykiosk to offer Internet in transit

    Start-up Mykiosk to offer Internet in transit

    News By Editor13 September 2011
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Wayne D'Sa

    Short-term prepaid Internet access isn’t a new idea. After all, it’s been keeping Internet cafes in business since the early days of the Web. Prepaid Internet kiosks, meanwhile, although commonplace in Europe, haven’t taken off in SA. Johannesburg-based start-up Mykiosk wants to change that by making getting online while in transit a little easier.

    Wayne D’Sa has run Hype Brandz Marketing with a partner for a number of years. Until now the company’s primary focus has been on renting servers to SA online gaming communities or “clans”. But with Mykiosk the company is looking to expand into offering Internet access in public locations.

    “Think of it like an Internet café but more useful and flexible,” says D’Sa, who got the inspiration while travelling. He says the units are built by local hardware vendors but run software sourced from the US.

    D’Sa intends to deploy the first five units in November and ramp up installations thereafter across Gauteng. “We want to make sure we have all of the teething problems worked out before trying to distribute nationally and it just makes sense from a logistics point of view as our suppliers are in Johannesburg.”

    Mykiosk is aimed at shopping malls, airports, hospitals and anywhere people might have to wait or “be in transit”. D’Sa says one of the challenges has been finding a suitable rental model for space in shopping malls.

    “Malls generally offer two space rental models,” he explains. “The first is to rent a whole store, and the other is to rent space for a promotion, like parking cars in the walkways for a few weeks. We’re trying to find something in between.”

    In addition to deploying its own units, Mykiosk will offer a franchise model, allowing individuals or companies to invest.

    At launch, the units will only accept bank notes, and the minimum purchase will be R10, which allows the user 10 minutes of browsing time. Users can also opt to use the device as a Wi-Fi hotspot for R30 for half an hour. In due course, the units will also support credit card payments.

    Each unit is connected to a broadband digital subscriber line and includes mobile data for failover.

    Data is traditionally billed for by quantity, not time, but D’Sa says the company opted for time-based billing because it “wanted to keep it simple” and because it is meant to be a short-term usage service, rather than the sort one would expect to get if going to an Internet café with the intention of spending hours online.

    “Internationally, the trend is for time-based billing and we looked at local Internet service providers’ wireless offerings and usage models, too, when deciding to go this route,” says D’Sa. “Our main selling point is convenience.”

    Users can opt to send short video messages or images via the kiosk’s built-in camera and D’Sa says each unit is a “high-end computer with a high-speed Internet connection” so users get the maximum value out of their spend.

    He says future versions of the kiosks will also include handsets for those looking to make Skype calls. The software is designed to erase all personal information between sessions so that users’ privacy isn’t compromised.

    Similarly, the kiosk software has built-in functionality to block adult content and warns users of this beforehand.

    Despite the prevalence of smartphones, D’Sa believes there is demand for a service like Mykiosk because “there are still many people who want a larger screen for certain tasks”.

    “PC penetration in SA is still dismal and kiosks of all sorts are definitely taking off in this market,” he says. “Lots of retailers are using kiosks, including Pick ’n Pay, Dischem, Edgars and Levi’s. With broadband pricing coming down, we thought it was a good time to combine the two.”

    Additional services, like the ability to buy prepaid vouchers for airtime and electricity, along with other “bolt-on services” will follow later. For now, though, D’Sa’s main focus is to get the Internet aspect of the service working flawlessly and in as many locations as possible.  — Craig Wilson, TechCentral

    This section on TechCentral focuses on technology start-ups in SA. The purpose is to profile what our start-up entrepreneurs are doing and to highlight some of the interesting technology ideas coming out of SA. Do you have an interesting tech start-up? Are you doing something out of the ordinary? Why not drop TechCentral a line and tell us about what you’re doing?

    • Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
    • Follow us on Twitter or on Facebook
    Mykiosk Wayne D'Sa
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous Article‘Seller beware’ on classifieds websites
    Next Article Windows 8 screenshots show off new user interface

    Related Posts

    State capture probe ends but South Africa remains ‘broken’ by corruption

    23 June 2022

    Vivica Group, formerly Vox, looks beyond ICT

    23 June 2022

    Protests break out at Eskom plants

    23 June 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Huawei P50 now available for pre-order in South Africa

    23 June 2022

    Calabrio paves way for SA’s cloud contact centre WFO journey alongside AWS

    23 June 2022

    More than card machines – iKhokha diversifies to reach more SMEs

    22 June 2022
    Opinion

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.