Project Isizwe: Africa’s free Wi-Fi solution giving mobile greater reach

There is a lot of talk about mobile penetration in Africa. Even if you dissect the stats down to the number of unique subscribers, there is no doubt that mobile has had, and continues to have, a huge role on the continent.

But what about data?

Or more specifically, what about the cost of data? It’s no good if everyone on the continent has access to a mobile phone but cannot afford the cost of bandwidth. Is mobile really enabling as many people as it could then?

South Africa has notoriously high data rates, with costs ranging from 10 cents (US$0.01) to as high as R2 per megabyte (US$0.2). For a lot of people in low-income areas across the country, and even the continent, this is simply too expensive.

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