Free Wi-Fi access in African shopping malls is set to become increasingly common over the course of 2014, Ruckus Wireless has suggested.
The firm carried out market research which suggested that there is likely to be big growth in Wi-Fi connectivity across the region. It also said that global public Wi-Fi hotspots are forecast to increase from 1.3 million in 2011, to 5.8 million by 2015.
Despite this optimistic outlook, Ruckus has identified a lack of adequate equipment as a potential stumbling block for the free Wi-Fi access roll out, itwebafric.com reports.
Ruckus’ director for sub-Saharan Africa, Michael Fletcher, told pcadvisor.co.uk that one of the key reasons for this growth in access is down to the increase in mobile data use. It is predicted that 1.9 billion Wi-Fi devices will be launched on African networks in the next 12 months, with data traffic reaching an estimated 16.84 million terabytes.
Mr Fletcher said: “if you look at the local and African initiatives such as free Wi-Fi in Rwanda’s Kigali and the City of Tshwane – not to mention Google’s Project Link to bring faster connectivity to Africa – 2014 is set to be a watershed year for Wi-Fi.”
