‘Smart City’ surges with more free Wi-Fi
Meeting trends of connecting on-the-go, malls roll out more service in spaces
THE CITY OF Johannesburg believes technology is essential to improving service delivery and has introduced another leg of its free Wi-Fi roll-out in public spaces.
“At Sandton City and Nelson Mandela Square we want to bring exceptional experiences to our shoppers with free unlimited Wi-Fi,” said Jonathan Sinden, Liberty Two Degrees’ asset management executive of Sandton City and Nelson Mandela Square.
This is something they’ve been focusing on strategically at every touch point.
There is confidence that the implementation of free and uncapped Wi-Fi for shoppers at Nelson Mandela Square is sure to meet the emerging
Empowering citizens with new ways of interacting
social trends of being connected on-the-go.
Sandton City shopping centre is also renowned among both local and international visitors as one of Africa’s leading retail destinations.
With an impressive retail and leisure space, Sandton City is home to more than 300 of the most exciting local and international retailers and presents you with a world of luxury in the exclusive Diamond Walk.
In the past few years, the City of Johannesburg announced the success of its Smart City project that kicked off with the Braamfontein Wireless Mesh successfully going live.
“We see this as a transformative initiative that will turbo charge Joburg’s digital economy,” former Joburg Mayor Parks Tau once said.
Braamfontein officially has free 100% Wi-Fi access for all citizens and they have access to 300MB of data per day per device.
This facility allows entrepreneurs, SMEs, students, employees and visitors to conduct their business on the go, check emails and updates on their social networks on their way to the office or to campus, as well as have access to their online banking or get some shopping done.
The city’s project was well under way and saw 1 000 Wi-Fi hotspots completed by the last quarter of 2015 as part of the “Smart City” initiative to provide broadband connectivity to all its citizens.
As the roll out continues, the planned phases of free Wi-Fi include the full stack of quad play which includes voice, video, data and mobility particularly around the student corridors.
With the city being connected, it is still expected that Joburg will surge ahead to be the number one provider of free Wi-Fi in the country.
The ultimate purpose of the project is to accelerate digital inclusion, improving access to information and empowering citizens with new ways of interacting with the city on service delivery matters.
Currently more than 50% of all libraries and clinics across the seven regions are consuming free Wi-Fi provided by the city.