The “Smart City” is coming to a hotspot near you!
Joburg residents and the City’s business community now have access to the fastest and most affordable broadband services in the country. The first steps to turn Johannesburg into a truly “smart city” were successfully taken, following an announcement by the Executive Mayor Clr Mpho Parks Tau, in his State of the City Address.
More than 900 km of the new fibre-optic network have been laid bringing the entire city, from Orange Farm in the south to Diepkloof and Ivory Park in Midrand, within reach of the benefits of this modern new technology.
The first nine Wi-Fi hotspots providing completely free access to the internet are already operational and this will grow to 500 locations by mid-2015 and an additional 500 by June 2016. “This is the most ambitious programme to roll-out digital infrastructure ever achieved in the southern hemisphere,” says the project manager, Zolani Matebese.
Free Wi-Fi and improved access to broadband will change the lives of Joburgers for the better, he says. Access to universal broadband has become as much a human right for citizens as the water, power and sanitation that the City delivers. The United Nations has declared it as “a basic human right” and in South Africa the National Development Plan has prioritised it and set itself a deadline of 2020 for universal broadband access for all citizens.
Zolani uses a practical example of how the new broadband network will improve the quality of life of ordinary residents. A person living in Stretford in the south no longer has to take a taxi and spend time in a queue to do a basic financial transaction such as internet banking. Through the free broadband service this can now be done on a cellphone within a few seconds and costing her absolutely nothing.
Elsewhere in the cities other residents can do more intricate transactions, access information, pay their bills and communicate with the city at the touch of few buttons on a cellphone or handheld device.
The quality and speed of the new fibre optic network is world class and comparable to the best standards found anywhere in the world and there are a multitude of potential applications waiting to be explored in the future. With E health applications,medical staff at city clinics could be able to gain immediate access to patients’ histories and send them reminders to take medicines for chronic conditions such as TB; motorists can receive real time updates about road conditions and traffic snarl-ups; emergency response teams will be dispatched to accident scenes and law enforcement will be able to monitor CCTV cameras more effectively… all this through same fibre optic network.
But, Zolani believes the new network’s biggest benefit to Joburg and its residents will be in the fields of education and learning. The vast world of knowledge contained on the Internet through its various search engines is now accessible – for free – to both students and educators. City students can now join the global trends towards “MOOCs” – massive open online courses – where large volumes of data, training manuals and video material can be downloaded at great speed and at no cost.
More than 400 schools and all 85 libraries in the city will soon have access to this network which has the capacity to carry 1.2 terabits of data per second.
Zolani says the broadband network project is part of the City’s long term vision to develop the local economy and empower communities. We can only announce this moe after go ahead from the Mayco.
Where to find Wi-Fi access in Joburg
Free and unlimited Wi-Fi access is already available at the following hotspots along the Rea Vaya route:
• Orlando Community Hall;
• Orlando Stadium and police station;
• Soccer City;
• Joburg Theatre;
• Park Station;
• Noordgesig taxi rank;
• Fashion Square;
• Carlton Centre;
• Art Gallery Station;
• Constitution hill
• Park Station; as well as
Libraries not live yet, GICT missed SOCA deadlineBy June 2015 there will be 500 hotspots and this number will grow to 1 000 by mid-2016.
