from ALLOYCE KIMBUNGA in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
DAR-ES-SALAAM, (CAJ News) – WORLD Mobile is launching its hybrid mobile network supported by low-altitude platform balloons in Zanzibar.
This project – the first since a successful $40 million raise – is poised to deliver coverage and access to the digital economy for over 1 million people in the island by end of 2023.
The London-based World Mobile is in discussions with governments in Kenya and Tanzania as well as other territories underserviced by traditional mobile operators.
In Zanzibar, it plans to have 20 mesh sites – local Wi-Fi nodes – rolled out by January 2022 and 120 sites during the first six months of 2022, including the first aerostat balloon launch.
The rollout will cover approximately 75 percent of Unguja Island and provide access to the wider digital economy including communications, e-commerce, finance, healthcare, and education to the islands’ 896 000 people.
“Zanzibar will become the world’s first smart region powered by World Mobile, connecting businesses, schools and society as a whole,” said Micky Watkins, Chief Executive Officer of World Mobile.
“We want to help create a world where everyone can access affordable connectivity, a world where economic freedom is a truth and a world where people are able to jump on the opportunities that internet creates.”
World Mobile plans to bring nearly 4 billion people online before 2030, in line with the United Nations and World Bank’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Data from the UN shows almost half the world’s population, 3,7 billion people, the majority of them women, and most in developing countries, are still offline.
“World Mobile’s service launch of affordable internet service in Zanzibar will be a game changer allowing the vast majority of Zanzibaris to fully participate in the digital revolution,” said Seif Said, Director General of Zanzibar’s E-Government Agency.
– CAJ News