‘Trendsetting’ is a term synonymous with fashion, music and leaving a mark that nearly everyone ends up following. A trend setter by definition is “someone who leads the way in fashion ideas”, but then I ask what fashion is?
Nowadays it is fashionable to have a smart-phone, tablet, laptop; you name it; not only for their smartness, but being able to connect to Wi-Fi. So commences the Liquid Telecom Wi-Fi story as a trend setter in Public Wi-Fi provision. What is Wi-Fi and why is it suddenly so important that almost every provider nowadays is talking about Wi-Fi? So many times when I have attempted to update my smart-phone software, I am greeted by a message that says ‘Wi-Fi connectivity required’ and what a bummer it becomes.
The Liquid Telecom Wi-Fi story began with the successful hosting of the 20th session of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general summit, Victoria Falls in August 2013 by the Zimbabwean Government. Coverage was requested for over 1500 delegates who all required seamless connectivity to Wi-Fi.
Liquid Telecom was elected the official telecommunications partner for the historic conference which required smart networking and connectivity. Liquid Telecom was the main connectivity partner in both Zimbabwe and Zambia.
This request gave birth to the introduction of Ruckus smart wireless services in Zimbabwe. Ruckus was the preferred solution provider by Liquid Telecom due to its smart attributes which include automatic channel collision avoidance through a technology known as ChannelFly and the Beam flex technology which is essentially an environmental scan so as to come up with the best antennae pattern that assists in maximizing the data throughput through features like Multiple-In Multiple-Out (MIMO).
To date, Liquid Telecom has managed to build 200 Wi-Fi hotspots around the country with 80% of them being spread around Harare supporting the drive towards a cyber city. The Liquid Telecom Wi-Fi is distributed by the Liquid Telecom retail company, ZOL Zimbabwe, through its ZOLspots.
These are mostly located in Shopping Malls, Restaurants, Sports Clubs, all the county’s airports and some tertiary institutions. Some of the locations are Sam Levy’s Village, Avondale Shopping Centre, Westgate Shopping Centers, Eastgate Shopping Center, Harare International Airport, Joshua Mqabuko International Airport, Victoria Falls Airport, Bulawayo Center, Seke Teachers College, Bindura University and Joina City.
ZOL Zimbabwe is the sole distributor of WiFi hotspots to several Innscor outlets. One of the most interesting Wi-Fi partnerships would be the presence of Liquid Telecom at all Innscor Fastfoods premises/outlets and these consist of Chicken Inn, Creamy Inn, Bakers Inn and Pizza Inn. This deal has revolutionized food consumption as Wi-Fi consumption has become the driving force behind food consumption.
Most people especially the youth have confirmed that Wi-Fi availability influences their restaurant hangout decision as they would check first if the service is available. According to the POTRAZ quarterly report of March 2015, Internet penetration rate is at 43% implying that there is a huge untapped market and demand for connectivity may rise. The notion behind the installation of public Wi-Fi hotspots is that almost everyone gets an opportunity to access the internet everywhere and anywhere.
The ZOLspot can be accessed through a once off registration process. Thereafter one simply tops up using online payment methods such as VISA and MasterCard. Payments can also be made through mobile payment platforms such as Ecocash and Telecash.
The ZOLspot finder app can be downloaded from the Google and Apple stores for easy identification of the hotspot locations. One can get speeds of upto 5Mbps at any ZOLspot location at top up rates from $5 for 1GB upto $39 for 30GB. If they are an existing ZOL Fibroniks home package client, they are able to seamlessly connect to a ZOLspot using their client ID number at no additional cost off their monthly bandwidth allocation.
One is able to register a fixed number of devices that get free access to all the ZOLspots depending on the size of their home Fibroniks package. This service is what we term Fibroniks on the “GO” as one is not necessarily confined to their home for internet reach, but as long as they are on the “GO” and are a ZOL home client then they will get unlimited access to all the 200 ZOLspots.
Liquid Telecom Wi-Fi is not only limited to public Hotspots as distributed through ZOLspots. With the coming of the Infrastructure sharing legislature, the Liquid Wi-Fi is carrier grade hence enabling it to support other service providers who want to ride on the infrastructure to distribute their Wi-Fi service to their clients as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs).
This service can also be extended to corporates and enterprises who require private Wi-Fi setups. Liquid Telecom is able to deliver customized Wireless solutions through the Ruckus platform. Presently we have an average of 35k unique MAC address registrations per week on our entire platform and this has provided an advertising opportunity to corporates that wish to advertise their services to our Wi-Fi clientele on the ZOLspot portal page.
- TechnoMag