​Youths from Orange Farm no longer have to take long and costly trips to town to connect to the internet to search for jobs or skills development training.

Residents of the Women’s Hostel in Alexandra, pensioners living in Riverlea Old Age Home and residents in other parts of the city where Wi-Fi has been rolled out now have free internet connectivity at their fingertips made possible by the City’s Metropolitan Trading Company (MTC).

With many communities in Johannesburg struggling to access the internet and the high cost of data, MTC has been bridging the digital divide and cutting the cost of telecommunication by providing free internet access for many job seekers, entrepreneurs, small businesses and students in an increasingly digital world.

MTC sees the roll-out of Wi-Fi to communities across the city as critical to service delivery mandate and the CoJ Free Wi-Fi initiative will ensure that many previously disadvantage communities in the city have access to internet.

MTC Project Manager Richard Lalla said the Wi-Fi rollout project started in June 2021 and has connected Zandspruit Informal Settlement, Roodepoort CBD City Hall, Dobsonville Customer Service Centre,  Mzimhlophe Hostel,  Eldorado Park Service Point,  Klipspruit Clinic,  Cosmo City Clinic, Westbury Recreation Centre, Nancefield Hostel, Donavan McDonald Retirement, Danie van Zyl Recreation Centre, Orange Farm Skills Centre, Sol Plaatjie Community Hall, Eldorado Park Ext 2 Library, Alexandra Women’s Hostel, Lenasia Civic Centre, Riverlea Old Age Home and Westgate Taxi rank.

Written by Nkosana Lekotjolo

19/10/2021