Trends R egarding WiFi in Gauteng South Africa

Krishan Jagernath¹, Visvanathan Naicker² 
(1. Graduate School of Business, UNISA, South Africa; 2. Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa)

Abstract: The demand for data usage in South Africa is growing and this growth is creating a heavy demand on the network of telecommunication providers. The challenge facing South Africa is a lack of spectrum especially for high-speed access of Long Term Evolution networks, which creates a set of challenges in providing services to their customers for these telecommunication providers.

The paper presents a narrative to ascertain where consumers in Gauteng access WiFi on a regular basis, how often they access these WiFi hot spots, reasons for their access. The findings would reflect the consumers’ buying behaviours as the target population to discover trends and patterns using WiFi.

A qualitative methods approach was chosen. This was based on the buying behaviour, trends and patterns of WiFi users and how Telecommunication Service Providers and businesses could position themselves as a WiFi provider and capture this market.

Respondents were regular users of WiFi and had good knowledge and understanding of WiFi. The biggest benefit of WiFi hotspots to them was that it was free and conveniently located and saved them on their personal data usage.

Whilst there is a sporadic WiFi footprint available in Gauteng, the service needs to be expanded and made more accessible in all restaurants, taxi ranks, universities, shopping malls, gated communities. WiFi can be provided to cover a wider range at shopping malls by Telecommunication Service Providers partnering up with providers of public and private WiFi hotspots.

Key words: consumer buying behaviour; WiFi; patterns; trends; hotspots; technology; telecommunication

JEL codes: O32