Cape Town's Universal Wi-Fi Program Isn't Ambitious Enough

The race to provide universal, free Wi-Fi to residents of Cape Town is officially underway. Two mid-size cities in Western Cape Province, of which Cape Town is the capital, saw the installation of public Wi-Fi hotspots earlier this week. This is just the beginning of a rollout program that won’t be complete until 2030. By then, all residents of Cape Town, along with the entire province it governs, are intended to have universal Wi-Fi access—at no cost. “By 2030 all households in high, medium, and low-priority wards should have access to the Internet by means of various technologies such as public Wi-Fi access, and/or mobile network connectivity,” a cabinet official was quoted as saying by the South African media.

It’s an ambitious endeavor. Ensuring that each of Cape Town’s 3 million-plus residents have round-the-clock, complimentary Wi-Fi will require the installation of hundreds of Internet hotspots. Yet the economic and social benefits could be huge: Cape Town, like much of South Africa, remains highly unequal in terms income and access. Nonetheless, the horizontal nature of this initiative should trigger some benefits across the city’s disparate classes, given that many do have access to mobile devices. Moreover, the World Bank estimates that every 10 percent increase in Internet connectivity yields a 1.3 percent increase in GDP. Free, citywide Internet will almost surely boost the rate of net connectivity.