28 October 2024: With the South African fourth school term exams for 2024, Net Nine Nine, South Africa’s fastest-growing Fibre Internet company aimed at empowering underdeveloped communities, will continue with the drive to connect township schools with free high-speed internet to access quality digital learning.

Over 30 schools in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Free State are already connected with the 1 Gig free fibre internet by the Telecommunications company, and the drive now heads towards Mpumalanga and the North West villages where digital education has been non-existent.

Net Nine Nine has been inundated with calls and requests from school principals seeking help to connect their schools, and the Internet Service Provider (ISP) based in Johannesburg has heeded the call and the rollout continues.

The Gauteng Department of Education introduced the Paperless Classroom Project in 2015, and nine years later, most schools in the country are still struggling to align with their peers due to a lack of facilities exacerbated by a lack of funding and unreasonably expensive data prices.  

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Rollout has been marked as a historic occasion for South Africa. following in the footsteps of Rwanda who are connected by an American-based fibre internet company, the ITC in South Africa has set its sights on getting schools connected with the latest in internet transmission technology.

Net Nine Nine has set a target to connect at least 100 schools in each province within the next two years, as it rolls out its infrastructure across South Africa.

It aims to begin to bridge the digital divide in Mzansi and give access to equal ingress to quality education for scholars in previously disadvantaged and less-served villages in South Africa,

It’s clear that the global shift towards online learning is a reality and schools are now forced to be equipped with the essential infrastructure to access a world of opportunities and information.

The Government’s Paperless Classroom Project targeting no-fee schools in the townships can now become a reality, most of these schools have reserved rooms in eager anticipation for computer centers, but such labs are rendered by most as useless with no internet connection, donated tablets laying in Principal’s office unused.

Net Nine Nine founding members, CEO Albert Oosthuysen, Chief of Staff, Nicholas Thipe, have invested a lot in ensuring black excellence becomes a reality, equipping South Africans with the tools that they need to achieve their dreams and become Heroes, we hope they will inspire those around them to do the same.

“Net Nine Nine has up-lifted many South African communities welcoming them into the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) by connecting its people with unlimited access to great opportunities,” said Thipe.

“The latest installation was in Mandela Village and Rens Town, Hammaskraal, which followed hot on the heels of Ga-Rankuwa, Kwaguqa, and many others, including communities in Bloemfontein in the Free State, and many others who are currently enjoying the fastest internet service. At this stage we are in Mpumalanga and the North West.”

Just a decade ago, Unlimited Internet was just a pipedream for many South Africans!