We have recently partnered up with an amazing business venture, Skylink Africa, to donate over 4000 routers – worth about R1million. Skylink Africa provides low-cost internet to lower-income communities.
With over 4000 routers available at Webafrica, there was more than enough to assist Skylink Africa to carry on their good work.
“We want to give them to someone who really needs it, who can’t afford to buy routers,” Greg Wright, Chief Commercial Officer at Webafrica, explains. This led to Skylink and Webafrica joining forces.
Skylink Africa started in March 2021 with an idea by founder, Ziggy Heuer to help underprivileged communities to get low-cost WiFi connections. Currently, Skylink services areas in Cape Town such as Red Hill, Masiphumelele, and Khayelitsha with plans to expand into Hangberg, Ocean View and Dunoon.
Heuer says, “(Routers) are pretty much a novelty there as most people in townships have never had WiFi before, only expensive cellular data.”
The routers have made their way from the Webafrica storerooms to Skylink which will soon distribute them to those in need. “When we find clients who can’t afford the hardware, we pay it forward – so we’ll take the router as is and reset it, upgrade the firmware if needs be, and then we configure it to utilise the WiFi aspect of it,” Heuer explains. The donated TP-Link routers, worth around R400-R500 refurbished and R1000 new will be provided to the customers free of charge. Our donation would assist them in keeping costs at a minimum in these areas, providing WiFi internet from as little as R50.
Our mission to ensure every South African has access to fast, affordable and reliable internet aligns with Skylink’s work in the communities and thus, teaming up was a no-brainer.
We hope to have another opportunity in future to team up for another project.
“Thank you Webafrica for supporting our small business to further bridge the digital divide and make WiFi more readily available to the poorest of the poor South Africans.” – Ziggy Heuer
