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Cape Town free WiFi connects 1 million users in 3 months

The City of Cape Town’s free WiFi project is growing more popular with residents, having recorded over one million unique users over the last three months.

According to stats released by the city yesterday, 1 026 290 unique users have downloaded 24.7 TBs of data at an average download speed of 30 Mbps from across its 363 free WiFi zones in the city.

A further 60 WiFi zones are planned to go live by June 2017, bringing the total number to over 400.

Below is a break down of unique users over the last month:

  • 213 080 in the last 30 days
  • 88 989 in the last seven days
  • 21 262 in the last 24 hours

The top four most commonly used applications on the service are YouTube, Google, Facebook and WhatsApp, the city said.

“Cost-effective and high-speed internet access for communities has become a necessity. According to the recent World Economic Forum, the world has entered what is termed the fourth industrial revolution. As a progressive city, we need to ensure that we are ready for this revolution by providing our residents with access to digital literacy and skills. We are on the right path and well prepared for this era,” said MMC for Corporate Services and Compliance, Xanthea Limberg.

Cape Town’s capital budget for its Broadband Network Roll-out Project is approximately R200 million for the current financial year.

Most of this budget has been dedicated to installing fibre-optic cables and switching capacity in township areas such as Harare, Kuyasa, Khayelitsha, Atlantis, Delft, Lentegeur, Site C, Mitchells Plain, Nyanga, Hanover Park and Seawinds, where there was previously no broadband infrastructure.

“The City’s public WiFi service and other digital inclusion projects are part of a broader Digital City Strategy, which aims to make Cape Town the most digitally connected city in Africa. Other elements of the strategy include investment in digital infrastructure, digital business initiatives, and a focus on digital government,” the city concluded.

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