Ilitha Telecommunications is newly established telecommunications company providing superfast low-cost broadband to townships , peri-urban and rural communities.
Internet access has become basic human rights issues across the world yet far too many people cannot afford access to the internet. South Africa’s colonial history together with its apartheid past has created indelible marks of inequality in South Africa, the digital divide will continue to perpetuate such inequality between the rich and poor who happen to be from the townships , or rural areas and predominantly African.
Moved by the desire to bring about a more equal world the founders of Ilitha Telecommunications have embarked on the ambitious project to provide affordable super fast broadband to the underserved communities. Ironically the people who receive the poor service in terms of network availability and quality are likely to be the ones who pay more for the service as they are on prepaid and do not have the possibility of buying bigger bundles of data to gain a lower price per megabyte of data. The dominant commercial model of the mobile telecommunications industry is to sell a volumes-based meter products to the market.
The founders of Ilitha Telecommunications have identified the opportunity to enter the market and address the underserved areas with business and commercial model that provides for both financial and social returns and deliver mass social progress.
Ilitha provides affordable superfast broadband using an array of technologies ranging from optic fibre, radio and satellite technologies depending on market dynamics and needs.
Our priority market is the township market where we are rolling out fibre to the home covering all homes in ward and ultimately the whole township on a prepaid basis leaving no one behind. At Ilitha the customer is at the heart of everything we do. We work hard to consistently deliver a great customer experience where a customer is not just a number, rather they are a priority!
We believe that access to affordable internet to all communities will be the single biggest engine for human development and Ilitha will be at the forefront of such societal transformation by providing quality affordable broadband based in sustainable business and commercial models.
We will democratise access to broadband in all markets where we operate.
The acceleration of Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies (4IR) bears a great promise to transform society in unprecedented way. If harnessed appropriately the developing world stands to benefit the most through deployment of digital technologies in areas such as education, healthcare, agriculture and jobs for youth. The consequences of failure to harness the digital technologies can be more catastrophic than the failure of the developing world to participate meaningfully in the other three revolutions. Failure to embrace and participate in the 4IR technologies will widen inequality amongst citizens and nations, increase poverty and unemployment.
Covid 19 has driven the adoption of digital technologies across the chasm, making internet access that main platform through which people can collaborate and engage, through which children can access schools, workers can continue to work from home and doctors can diagnose and help patients remotely. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in educational institutions across the world being compelled to suddenly harness and utilize the suite of available technological tools to create content for remote learning for students in all sectors. Educators across the world are experiencing new possibilities to do things differently and with greater flexibility resulting in potential benefits in accessibility to education for students across the world.
These are new modes of instruction that have previously been largely untapped . The foundations for any digitisation of any economy is access to affordable quality broadband and increase in digital skills. Whilst great progress has been made to provide connectivity in South Africa, such investment has been uneven between rich urban areas and less privileged township , peri-urban and rural areas. Huge differentials in both the quality and price of broadband is driving inequality in access to the internet amongst citizens. The united Nations declared access to the internet as a basic human right, thus underscoring the transformational power of the internet to human development. Townships and rural areas remain underserved when it comes to superfast affordable broadband.
Ilitha Telecommunications Investors are impact investor who see the business model in providing scalable platforms to digitise townships and rural communities to deliver mass social progress. Our investment delivers both financial and social returns. Optic fibre is a strategic asset class that will create a highway to every home in the township creating possibilities and changing lives of families and individuals. Though our investment in in Ilitha , children living in the townships will never miss school , during any lock down due to lack access to affordable quality broadband.
Possibilities of people working from home in the township has become a reality, patients will access doctors through our superfast affordable broadband and with an overlay of digital heath technologies it is possible that full remote diagnosis will be attained thus improving patient outcomes. Home security through video surveillance will be the basic foundations of a safe township and safe city strategy deployment. We are ,making the commitment to invest in this high impact project, given a return on investment to our investors and transform society in unprecedented ways.
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