It's nice to be connected. It's even better to be connected and mobile. Being chained to a lump of a computer in a stuffy office is no one's idea of fun. Who would not choose rather to spend their days doing spreadsheets by the swimming pool or writing memos in the sauna? Wireless is the next logical step in technological evolution.

Municipal WiFi

The wireless standard, originally called IEEE 802.11, but marketed for obvious reasons as WiFi (no relation to hi-fi, by the way) was originally meant to facilitate small-scale communications within local area networks.

But it grew. Some cities have begun to use it for municipal WiFi, which extends wireless communication like a cloud across a much larger area. Theoretically, this could provide free or cheap Internet access to all citizens and plough money normally spent on broadband connections back into the local economy. Municipal WiFi has the makings of a digital revolution.

If the city has the wherewithal to install its own WiFi, it has greater independence regarding pricing the service, but most municipalities are forced to indulge in a public-private relationship to make it happen.

In Knysna, the first South African city to provide WiFi to its 50 000 mostly privileged citizens, UniNet was charged with installing the network. Predictably, Telkom and other Internet service providers (ISPs) were not thrilled at the prospect of losing a chunk of their revenue.

Although UniNet claims to have reduced broadband costs by 50 percent, the service, which costs between R250 and R799 a month, is still expensive by international standards and unaffordable to most.

Tshwane offers its considerably larger population the MetroMesh Zone, a full open-access network that promises to provide basic access to municipal, e-government and related services free of charge. Internet access, however, will still cost the user R350 a month for a 3 gigabyte package through Neology, which is spearheading the proof-of-concept project with the City of Tshwane.

Municipal WiFi is illegal in some American states because of its potential to undercut telecommunications companies and ISPs. In the Tshwane experiment, ISPs and other companies are being encouraged to utilise the network to deliver services to end-users.

Subsidising connectivity

Some argue that subsidising connectivity in cities is counter-productive and that the money would be better spent on mending potholes and fighting crime. Walter White of Verizon Communications asks why municipalities would choose to spend taxpayers' money on providing what he calls "nice-to-have" when basic services are being cut back.

Municipal WiFi is punted primarily as a means to bridge the digital chasm. If a start-up business had free or cheap Internet access, it could use voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), which is absolutely free when a call is made from one VOIP connection to another. VOIP is also cheaper than using the plain old telephone service when calls are made to a landline, even internationally. VOIP is not going to go away. If enough people have affordable Internet access, the whole world will, as Skype hopes, talk for free.

In South Africa, the economics are simple. A large portion of our telecoms - cellular, cable and, unavoidably, our wireless networks, are in the grip of a Telkom monopoly. Telkom is largely state-owned; municipalities are installed by the state.

The irony is that although they are bedfellows, there seems to be very little co-operation. Given just a small boost of collaboration, the price of a few car allowances and the odd lavish banquet, affordable connectivity for all could be a reality.

This article was first published in the Sunday Independent.