Students, job seekers and residents in the city will soon have access to 250 megabytes of free data daily to assist them with assignments and jobs applications following the launch of free Wi-Fi in public spaces by Provincial Government. The project is part of the implementation of the broadband telecommunication network infrastructure.
Information made available by Provincial Government spokesperson Phuti Seloba, indicated that government provides free Wi-Fi at Library Gardens and Polokwane Municipality Offices to offer a unique opportunity for the people of Limpopo to become active participants in the knowledge economy. Seloba said free Wi-Fi services is ‘plug and play’ which means no password is needed to connect to the services within the two aforementioned areas.
Poverty Reduction
Information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure will support poverty reduction strategies by informing policy making, facilitating citizen to government transactions and public sector reforms and promoting participation and accountability, Seloba stated. He further said a major opportunity for using ICT in poverty reduction is to provide information and knowledge to rural populations and to empower local development agents to serve the poor.
Education
ICT will harness and improve the efficiency, accessibility and quality of the learning process in the province through distance education, where affordability and geography have been real barriers to access in the case of Limpopo, enabling increased access to knowledge and more collaborative and interactive learning techniques, it was learnt.
Health
Seloba outlined that the deployed ICT infrastructure will facilitate remote consultation, diagnosis and treatment. The ICT-facilitated collaboration extends to medical research and health workers in the province will access relevant medical training through ICT-enabled delivery mechanisms, he explained.
SMME Development
According to Seloba, six enterprises are part of the project and will benefit 33% of the value of the project in terms of phase one which will cover Polokwane Municipality, Capricorn District and provincial identified growth points. The six enterprises (SMMEs) will be trained and operate the trenching machines, laying fibre, connecting all sites, implementing of Network Operating Control Centre and the Call Centre in phase one, he added.
Story: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za
