Free Wi-FI comes to SA taxis

The South African National Taxi Council has partnered with Telkom to provide 50MB of free Wi-Fi data connectivity per month to taxi commuters.

The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO), through its commercial subsidiary TaxiChoice has partnered with Telkom SA and will be rolling out a free limited high speed Wi-Fi onboard all taxis and selected major taxi ranks.

This initiative is part of the SANTACO’s long term vision aimed at modernizing, revitalization, transforming and developing the taxi industry. “This improvement in our service offering is part of our long term strategy to turn-around the taxi industry into a world class taxi service. We want to keep our 15-million daily commuters and attract more people back to using public transport in general, and taxis in particular,” says SANTACO President Mr Taaibosch.

The cornerstone of the SANTACO strategy is the improvement of commuter experience and service levels onboard all taxis, the WiTaxi project will provide commuters with access to the internet – thereby enhancing their lives and economic activities. Internet connectivity has proven that it has a direct contribution to the economic development of the country.

The WiTaxi Project

SANTACO with its partner Telkom SA will be rolling out Wi-Fi access points in all taxis and selected major taxi ranks. The rollout will be in phases, with phase 1 rolling out 1 500 taxis and over 50 selected taxi ranks within the first 6 months. Phase 2 and subsequent phases will see the installation of between 4 000 to 5 000 Wi-Fi access points per month.

“Each commuter will receive 50MB free data a month, on a high speed Wi-Fi platform with speeds in excess of 3G and LTE,” says Vernon Billet, SANTACO’s Secretary General

Over 90% of the all taxis and taxi ranks will be covered within the first 3 years.

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