👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Every day – A Terra-fic elevate

In October 2025, the Impartial Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), the nation’s telecom regulator, mandated Telkom to offer free WiFi at metropolis centres, equivalent to Thusong, a peri-urban space, or danger paying as much as R1 million ($57,500) in fines. 

The regulator instructed the telecom agency to offer these networks, in accordance with the Common Service and Entry Obligations (USAOs), a licence situation that requires operators to increase connectivity past worthwhile areas. Poor connectivity in these centres means public establishments positioned there wrestle with unreliable networks, creating bottlenecks in delivering important public providers.

State of play: Telkom is opting to attach metropolis centres in South Africa fairly than meet outdated licence situations that obligate it to offer providers, equivalent to public pay telephones and listing providers. The agency is probably going on observe to mount the primary batch of the general public WiFi networks by April 2026, the timeline given by ICASA.

Is that this enterprise or saving pores and skin? Each. On the floor, that is regulatory housekeeping. Telkom is avoiding fines and changing legacy necessities with one thing future-facing. The WiFi hotspots have to be free, capped (300MB every day), and maintained at Telkom’s price, so direct revenue is unlikely. 

However strategically, it aligns with Telkom’s data-first pivot. In December 2025, Telkom crossed 25 million subscribers, drawing it nearer to rivals MTN and Vodacom, the highest two telecom suppliers in South Africa, with subscribers of 39.8 million and 39 million, respectively. Telkom’s cellular information customers now make up 76.5% of its subscriber base, and information site visitors jumped 20.4% year-on-year.

Like most telecom companies, Telkom prioritises dense city corridors the place common income per person (ARPU) is stronger. Rural or peri-urban centres sometimes ship thinner margins. Whereas free public WiFi received’t transfer income instantly, it deepens its footprint, helps model fairness, and strengthens regulatory goodwill as rivals like MTN and Vodacom give attention to business community enlargement.