The city of Nairobi is home to about six million people, with a good number of them living in informal settlements. The uptown markets are already saturated with broadband internet connectivity.
However, there is little to none ISPs serving the consumers within the informal settlement. Well, except of course mobile service carriers in the form of mobile data, but there is a little footprint of fiber broadband internet.
Well, ISP service poa! Internet who supplies fiber-based broadband internet has partnered with Fon, a global Wi-Fi network which boasts of over 21 million hotspots around the world. To connect people living within the informal settlements in Nairobi and Kiambu with public Wi-Fi connectivity.
Thanks to this partnership, the two companies have already installed over 3,000 hotspots in Nairobi and Kiambu. In regions such as Kibera, Kawangware, Kangemi, Kabiria, Waithaka, Dagoretti, Kiambu, Jamhuri, Racecourse, Githunguri, Ndumberi, Kirigiti, and Ting’ang’a.
Andy Halsall, the CEO of poa! Internet during an interview with a section of the media said: “We realized that if we were truly going to deliver a step-change in access to internet in Kenya, we needed to innovate and build new business models around next-generation technology.”
Users can access internet at these public Wi-Fi hotspots set up through the partnership between poa! Internet and Fon; the hotspots are called UKO POA Wi-Fii. The users also have to part with pocket-friendly cash at just Ksh. 10 per hour or Ksh. 50 per day of unlimited internet with 2 Mbps speeds.
Fon through its tech arm division Fontech has over the years made managing and operating Wi-Fi as smart and simple for operators and enterprises as possible. As they have a bespoke software management platform.
Some of Fontech international clients include AT&T, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom Group, Vodafone Group, SFR, British Telecom, and KPN.
“Fon developed the Wi-Fi sharing model that now dominates the internet landscape in the West. Wi-Fi sharing access points provide internet in homes and on the streets of many developed nations, and we are proud to bring this technology to East Africa.
High-speed home broadband with free access to thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots and low-cost unlimited internet access on the street for those who can’t afford a home connection is transformation in bringing affordable internet to all Kenyans.”