A WiFi content delivery solution can provide free wireless access to rich and curated education, training and entertainment content in areas that have minimal connectivity and where data costs prevent the majority of people from using digital channels.

The solution is an integrated WiFi and content system that can be placed within areas of high traffic, such as schools, community centres, hospitals and civil service facilities, to provide rich content over WiFi to up to 100 users simultaneously, says public WiFi solution company View4all.tv director Greg Sheppard.

“We boiled a full WiFi technology stack down to the bare bones to serve a very specific purpose. Our solution is not an Internet solution; rather, it provides what most people use the Internet for, namely access to entertainment content and elearning materials.”

Over 80% of South Africa’s population has access to a smart device, such as a smartphone, laptop or tablet. Apart from the entertainment, the uniquely created solution can thus provide education materials to most school-going youths, as well as tertiary education materials for training purposes. The solution has a WiFi transmitter, storage hard drive and uninterruptible power supply that allows each unit to provide between eight and ten hours of content streaming to up to 100 devices simultaneously in a hotspot using backup power.

However, Sheppard emphasises that the low cost of the solution also allows for it to be used to deliver community news and content, thereby supporting local journalists and entertainers, as well as digital media entrepreneurs. Similarly, it can support local language content delivery created by South Africans.

“Content on the system can be all the National Qualification Framework content for technical professions, as well as secondary-level education content that allows educators to provide school-going youths with rich content, such as videos and interactive tutorials.

“We believe that the system, which costs less than R20 000 per device, depending on the configuration, and that can comfortably support up to 100 simultaneous users, can help to reduce the digital gap and also support community consumption of various digital content.”

The solution is supported by advertising revenue, similar to most digital content, but on-board analytics enable View4All to monitor exactly how many times the content and associated advertisements were viewed by each device on the WiFi network, enabling powerful consumer analytics. This capability also supports education provision, as it can be used to monitor when education content was accessed and when answer sheets and student work were uploaded.

Additionally, companies can place their advertisement and marketing material on the devices and gain exposure for their products and services. The analytics enable them to get near-real-time feedback of how people are consuming their marketing and advertising campaigns, with detailed information down to specific devices, providing high granularity and the ability to assess interest in communities. This allows for effective retargeting and consumer behaviour analytics.

The system uses available connectivity, usually second- or third-generation telecommunications connectivity, to update content during periods of low use at night.

“Our solution could be an answer to traditional digital television and is optimised to fit small screens. We believe that it can help to reduce the digital gap, as telecommunications infrastructure is expected to continue to lag behind most other regions. However, the solution can help to improve market conditions to support the commercial deployment of digital content delivery.”

View4All.tv is approaching large corporations and venture capital organisations to partner with them to deploy a solution that carries digital content to people. Sheppard also avers that with suitable educational and community content, the solution can be a corporate social investment (which can help to offset an organisation’s tax) while providing brand exposure and market information.

“Our solution is a viable answer for both the metropolitan and rural, remote and underserved areas and markets, by harnessing the power of Fourth Industrial Revolution devices and capabilities to deliver rich digital content,” concludes Sheppard.