SkyFi launched to give public access to WiFi services
The National Information Technology Agency (NITA) in partnership with E-Connecta has launched the first phase of the SkyFi Internet services which allow customers to access WiFi at selected areas in town.
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SkyFi is aimed at offering high speed WiFi services with an integrated payment system (mobile money, card payment etc) to ensure access to all.
The phase one covers areas which include the Accra Technical University, Tema Lorry Station, Airport, Burma Camp, Korle-Bu, University of Professional Studies and Makola.
Others include Osu, 37 Military Hospital and Lorry Station, University for Development Studies (Tamale) and the University of Allied Health Sciences
Phase two of the SkyFi WiFi service will extend its coverage to other parts of the country with an increased focus on tertiary institutions.
The acting Chief Executive Officer of E-Connecta, Mr Kobina Richardson, said at the launch of the facility that “at the centre of what SkyFi offers is convenience. This means, once you join the SkyFi family in one location, you are automatically enrolled in all SkyFi-enabled locations. Your single login credentials will connect you anywhere SkyFi is available”.
He said the facility would offer a lot of opportunities for growth to a developing economy like Ghana, since the Internet had already improved development by making communication more efficient in Africa.
He noted that with the world heading to the Internet days, an increasing number of individuals, businesses and institutions were going to find it more challenging to cope without access to a good and reliable Internet.
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He said the WiFi Hotspot service SkyFi had been designed and deployed to provide very cheap and reliable Internet access to the Ghanaian consumer to improve their standard of living.
Innovative idea
The Minister for Communication, Mr Edward Omane Boamah, commended NITA and E-connecta for such an innovative idea which he said would help Ghanaians, especially students, to beef up their research work.
He said the government was committed to collaborating with Internet service providers to offer high-speed Internet at very affordable rates, as well as providing good quality benefits for all irrespective of one’s location.
The minister also pointed out that bandwidth in Ghana had become less expensive now as more service providers entered the market to offer competitive rates to customers.
About NITA
The National Information Technology Agency (NITA) has, as part of its mandate, the responsibility to deploy IT/Telecom Infrastructure to support the eGovernment initiative of the government of Ghana.
In delivery of this mandate, NITA, over the past five years, has deployed infrastructure worth over USD300 million which include Data Centres, Fibre Optic Network Infrastructure, Long-Term Evolution (LTE Network), Microwave network etc.
It is one of NITA’s policy directives to commercialise excess capacity of its infrastructure to ensure its sustainability (operations and maintenance) and to generate additional income streams to repay loans raised by the government on its behalf as assistance in deploying these infrastructure.
And this commercialisation policy identifies Public WiFi, among other things, as a critical area to explore.