JXTC GENRE : DECEMBER 08 TEMPLATE

Over the past 12 months Bulawayo has seen an increase in the usage of wireless internet. Many establishments like restaurants and cafes are joining the trend of operating as a ‘hotspot’. People are hooked! The new ‘it’ or is it ‘IT’ people (no pun intended!) can all be found hovering around the mushrooming hotspots browsing either from a laptop or the very delicious iPhone or iPod Touch.

With internet being a very scarce commodity in most of Africa wireless is a welcome relief for the online individual. Dial up internet (the sound of that modem clinking…) has not been too much of a hit here because many people do not have home landlines and even where there is one current landline tariffs are astronomic.

The price of internet has gone down a little bit with an hour of wireless costing US$1.50 whereas last year it was costing $2.50 and the minimum was paying for 5 hours! In some places the charge per data you use. A hundred megabytes (which is a minimum in all the places) will set you back a cool $6.00. The prices are still high as compared to an experience in Cape Town where $3.50 offered 24 hours of access. A consolation is that with our prices going down the speed has amazingly increased

The con is obviously that connectivity is limited to the CBD only unless you can afford the pricey home ADSL which at some point had a $1,500 tag. Thinking about WIMAX hence becomes another story with all the antennas you would need.

Another relief was the mobile operator Econet being the first in the country to launch mobile internet and 3G late last year. From your mobile phone internet cost would be $20 a month for unlimited connectivity anytime! Another option is their USB modem which at an initial cost would be $140 and the monthly $20 would also apply. Unfortunately none of these services are easily available if you missed out when it began as the operator is not taking new connections at the moment. Unless you are connected to someone working there (and you would need strong copper wire) tough luck.

The future does look bright though, with the launch of the undersea SEACOM cable in South Africa late last year even though it primarily connects the countries near it in the Indian Ocean side of Africa like Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa. The rest of the landlocked countries will have to tap from there. Broadband activists have however been quick to say that it would take at least 18 months for the benefits of the cable to be felt.

Article by :Jermain Ndhlovu

Comments (0)