BRCK, the hardware and internet service provider company based in Kenya announced a move to the South Africa market with their Moja WiFi service.
Erik Hersman, BRCK’s CEO announced that they are entering the country with their free public Moja WiFi service, which is an interesting move by the company.
BRCK launched Moja Wi-Fi two years ago and according to the company, they have nearly 3,000 locations across public spaces and buses in the East African market.
Moja Wi-Fi works by being free to be public and they monetize instead with their business customers across these markets. According to the company, they have grown to 7 million sessions each month and apparently, they are one of the largest public WiFi providers in Africa.
“South Africa is interesting to me as it has a wide swath of smartphone users, many who can’t afford data bundles and that is mixed with a more mature business market than is found in any other Africa country,” Erik Hersman said. He also said that they are inking deals with fast moving consumer goods (FCMG) companies as well as insurance companies, so they clearly see a huge potential in this market.
This news comes after Google recently launched Google Station in 100 locations at the Western Cape in South Africa. Google is offering free Wi-Fi in the Cape Town area and they partnered with a local ISP in the country. The timing for Moja Wi-Fi to launch in Kenya is quite interesting and it seems that the new battle is getting free Wi-Fi for the masses to sign up businesses.
