Kayamandi Gets Uncapped Fibre -

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Kayamandi gets uncapped fibre Kayamandi township is undergoing a major digital transformation, not previously seen in South Africa. Over 3,000 Kayamandi homes now have access to superfast uncapped prepaid fibre. For just R5 per day Kayamandi residents can access unlimited internet at speeds of more than 100mbps for 24 hours, uncapped. This is made possible by the internet company, Isizwe.com. With its partners, Paygozo and Vulacoin, Isizwe is pioneering an unprecedented model for profitable township fibre. Isizwe has open-sourced the township fibre blueprint, providing a step-by-step guide for how to build networks at a low cost without compromising quality and then make it easy for consumers to buy airtime. “We’re trying to do for fibre what Shoprite Checkers did for food and Capitec did for banking, namely: Bring down the costs so that more people can have access to more internet, and in the process help entrepreneurs build big businesses that can create job opportunities for thousands of youngsters in townships.” Steven Briggs, CEO Isizwe. Paygozo is a prepaid ISP that is enabling the Kayamandi Fibre Project: “Our goal has been to create a fundable template for township fibre so that local entrepreneurs can access funding to build fibre infrastructure in any township in SA.” Richard Henn, CEO of Paygozo. Liquid Intelligent has also played a critical role in making the project a reality. “Our work in supporting Paygozo to bring the Kayamandi project to life is yet another testament to our commitment to realise our vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind. Through its extensive fibre network on the continent, Liquid Intelligent 1 Technologies is working continually to improve the lives of all individuals, even in the remotest parts of South Africa, utilising various areas of our technology stack” said Deon Geyser, CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies South Africa. The process of enabling Kayamandi to have quality internet was not an easy one. There were some deep technical challenges, not least of which was electricity. Not only is South Africa’s power grid enduring ongoing load-shedding, but electrical infrastructure in townships is notoriously hard to manage. You can’t ignore electricity. The business model of township fibre depends on people using the internet 24/7. Which means you need to solve for power to the home. If you adopt a strategy of installing energy at the periphery, then your capital costs get too expensive. Paygozo found a novel way of dealing with the electricity problem by using world-first technology, sending DC power over fibre. The solution is in the early stages, but if successful there will be a template for any fibre company that needs to solve for power in the home by pushing electricity from the centre of the network. One of the deployment innovations has been to contract a pure civil engineering design- and-construction company. CEO of Paygozo, Richard Henn said, “Fibre internet is not rocket science. It’s about getting the civils properly delivered. Instead of having to hire technicians and engineers and specialised skills, we decided to outsource to ASLA, a company that specialises in building township infrastructure. South Africa has an enormous and under-utilised construction management sector, which we believe can be applied towards fibre deployments, and which can achieve lower build-costs and higher quality than can be achieved in-house.” The Kayamandi Fibre Project has gone beyond just the technical infrastructure to include how residents access airtime. 2 Online investing platform EasyEquities is contributing to the project via their Donate for Good feature which allows users of the platform to donate a small amount of their investment spend to a worthy cause. “This project aligns so much with our values in creating access to products and services which can truly uplift communities and change the narrative of our country,” says Almero Oosthuizen, VP of Business Development. The platform, which launched in 2014, aims to disrupt and remove the barriers to entry in local and international stock markets, making the purchase of shares easy, cheap and fun. This is due to the fact that EasyEquities allows investors to buy a fraction or piece of a share, thus not having to save up enough money to afford a whole share. EasyEquities will also be trialling a partnership with Kayamandi; enabling users to earn free day vouchers if they participate in a piece of educational investing content. “Anyone should be able to invest. And now they can. This is an opportunity to expose the community of Kayamandi to an affordable wealth building tool, and we’re excited about the potential impact that that could have.” The key to unlocking the commercial sustainability of Kayamandi fibre is Vulacoin, a blockchain wallet that was designed specifically to allow for the piecemeal purchase of airtime, enabling pay-as-you-go ISP’s like Paygozo to sell services into the informal economy. This platform is highly intuitive and ensures that residents are able to buy & redeem vouchers speedily, with minimal upfront financial commitment. The immediate priority for Kayamandi is to extend the fibre to all 30,000 homes in the township, providing a contiguous layer of home fibre which can be accessed by residents anywhere. Based on the results of the commercial model, Isizwe.com intends to expanding to similar countries. “We’re already working on plans to penetrate the metropolitan conurbation stretching from Lagos to Accra. The truth is that most of world is more like South Africa than it is like EOCD countries like England. Which means solutions that work in South Africa are more applicable to the world than solutions that work in England. At the core of our mission is the fight against digital apartheid. The gap between those that have fast affordable internet, and those that don’t. Those that have uncapped home fibre, and 3 those that don’t. The Kayamandi Fibre Project is our small way of trying to tackling digital apartheid.” Alan Knott-Craig, Chairman Isizwe.com www.kayamandifibreproject.org info@isizwe.com 4