Free Wi-Fi in Africa Covering Africa with free and low-cost Wi-Fi may not seem like a smart thing, but that is exactly what Paul English, the cofounder of travel search engine Kayak.com , plans to do. English has created a hybrid nonprofit/for-profit company, JoinAfrica, to explore the creation of two tiers of Wi-Fi access in Africa.
The first tier will be free and offer basic email service (from Gmail, Yahoo!, etc.) and web browsing (Wikipedia, BBC, etc.). The second tier will be fee-based and offer additional capabilities, including audio, video, and high-quality images. 56 Although many countries in Africa struggle to have proper drinking water or even efficient electrical power, English and the JoinAfrica initiative believe having access to the Internet is just as important. JoinAfrica will work with for-profit telecommunication companies in Africa to first branch out with existing connections in villages, providing residents with the first-tier services, and residents can pay money to upgrade to the second tier.
More bandwidth-intensive services such as streaming video and pornography will be throttled to ensure a basic level of service for all as the networks grow.
• List 10 ways wireless access might help remote villages in Africa.
• List 10 ways wireless access could hurt remote villages in Africa.
• What other infrastructure requirements will JoinAfrica need to implement to ensure the project's success?
• How will changes in technology over the next decade affect the JoinAfrica project?
• What types of security and ethical issues will JoinAfrica face?
• If you were given $1 million, would you invest it in JoinAfrica?