[HARARE, December 12, 2019] – Liquid Telecom Zimbabwe, part of the leading pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, is today celebrating the success of Edu-Zones, a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiative to help students bridge the digital divide with free Wi-Fi delivered across the company’s high-speed fibre network.
Edu-Zones forms part of a long-term CSR initiative by Liquid Telecom launched in July 2018 by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, Professor Dr Amon Murwirwa at the Harare International Conference Centre.
From Polytechnics to Universities, Edu-Zones empower and equip learning institutions with free internet in the form of Wi-Fi zones - typically in cafeterias, halls of residence and sports fields where students congregate. Since its launch 18 months ago, thousands of tertiary level students are enjoying free internet access through Edu-Zones located at 48 higher and tertiary learning institutions across Zimbabwe.
“We believe every individual on the African continent has the right to be connected. This is the vision that has been driving our network expansion across Africa over the last ten years and, in Zimbabwe, why we launched Edu-Zones. Almost 18 months later students and teachers from 48 learning institutions across the country are benefitting from high speed, reliable internet connectivity that is critical for both curriculum and studies. This has resulted in vastly improved exam pass rates and career opportunities across the student population. Edu-Zones is a long-term initiative which is already helping the connected Universities and Polytechnic’s to save money on internet data costs,” said Wellington Makamure, Regional CEO, Liquid Telecom Southern Africa Region.
Edu-Zones from Liquid Telecom is unprecedented in terms of the number and geographical spread of the institutions connected to free Wi-Fi. The initiative is also backed by the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development.
The Edu-Zones free Wi-Fi initiative is a real-world example of how Liquid Telecom is helping to build Africa’s digital future by supporting tech skills and improved digital literacy. This includes supporting students with 21CSkills - a learning platform that offers skills training and development programmes on the latest technologies for African students, start-ups, and developers, who are set to play a starring role in Africa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution.
About Liquid Telecom
Liquid Telecom is a leading communications solutions provider across 13 countries primarily in Eastern, Southern and South Africa that serves mobile operators, carriers, enterprise, media and content companies and retail customers with high-speed, reliable connectivity, hosting and co-location and digital services. It has built Africa’s largest independent fibre network, approaching 70,000km, and operates state-of-the-art data centres in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Nairobi, with a combined potential 19,000 square metres of rack space and 78 MW of power. This is in addition to offering leading cloud-based services, such as Microsoft Office365 and Microsoft Azure across our fibre footprint. Through this combined offering Liquid Telecom is enhancing customers’ experience on their digital journey. In October 2019, Liquid Telecom was recognised as ‘The Best African Wholesale Carrier’ for the 8th consecutive year at the Global Carrier Awards. www.liquidtelecom.com.