Tshwane takes first step to secure free Wi-Fi

1 June 2017

The City of Tshwane has made an important breakthrough in its mission to put its world-famous free Wi-Fi [known as TshWi-Fi] offering on a lawful and sustainable footing. In so doing we will also respond to findings by the Auditor-General against the way the service was initially procured by the previous City government.

The Executive Mayor, Solly Msimanga, is on record that our administration will do everything in its power to save TshWi-Fi, and even to expand the quality and the reach of the current service. In the 2017/18 financial year the City has budgeted R88.5 million for the provision of free Wi-Fi.

Compelling evidence exists that greater Internet penetration drives economic growth.

Tshwane free Wi-Fi has helped many young people to connect to the world of work and business. This has been a game-changer for communities where private Internet access is a distant hope.

But it is crucial that our new Wi-Fi budget be spent wisely, and that the mistakes of the previous City government that endangered project, are avoided.

Project Isizwe, the current free Wi-Fi implementing agent and a non-profit company, agrees with the City’s commitment to good governance.

After months of negotiation with Project Isizwe in what was extremely difficult circumstances for both parties, the City believes we can take the first important step to secure the future of Tshwane free Wi-Fi.

The solution will need to be approved by the City Council at its June meeting, and is summarised as follows:

- The contract between the City and Project Isizwe will be amended to allow for maintaining the quality and the reach of the current free Wi-Fi offering.

- The agreement with Project Isizwe will run until December this year to enable the City to put the operation and maintenance of the free Wi-Fi service out to tender, or to find some other means of maintaining the service without relying on a sole supplier.

- In the meantime, the City and Project Isizwe will continue to test the commercial potential of free Wi-Fi as an advertising space, and all revenue raised in this manner will accrue to the City.

- The details of how exactly the free Wi-Fi network will be operated by a service provider other than Project Isizwe will be finalised in the next four months to allow for proper supply chain management processes to be followed.

We acknowledge that although its means of procurement may have been left wanting, the City did receive substantial benefit from its investment in free Wi-Fi.

The current cost for the roll out of 11 phases up to June 2016 was R320 million with the actual expenditure to date for 2016/17: R78 million. The budget for the 2017/18 financial year is R88.5 million.

With the short-term of free Wi-Fi secured, the ingenuity of the private sector now becomes crucial to securing the service in the long-term.

It is simply not possible for the City to sustain its full subsidy of free Wi-Fi indefinitely, or to fund the expansion of the network on its own.

Commercial investment and partnerships are needed. 

In conclusion, free Wi-Fi is about individual opportunity and potential. It gives ordinary people a small hand-up to get ahead in life.

And it serves the vision of the DA-led multi-party government of an Opportunity City. So while this City government may not have conceived of free Wi-Fi, our aim is to perfect it.

Issued by Cllr Cilliers Brink, MMC for Corporate and Shared Services, 1 June 2017