Internet connection company Vumatel – which sometimes just goes by “Vuma” – has announced a new initiative called “Free Fibre to Schools” which has recently kicked off in Polokwane.
“As part of the initiative, primary and high schools located along Vuma’s existing fibre deployment route in Polokwane are provided with a free 1Gbps fibre line from Vuma. Laerskool Pietersburg-Oos in Bendor has already benefited from the initiative, along with Adsum Academy, which received its fibre installations and connection with Capricom. Vuma plans to connect more schools in the coming months,” reads a press release sent to us.
More schools will be added to that list in the future.
This forms part of a rollout of home fibre connections being installed and made available in Polokwane. Some areas in the city are already live while others are on the way to the same status. As always the coverage map on Vumatel’s website is the best place to go if you want to check on availability where you live, work or study.
While an internet connection to a place of learning has always been a valuable resources, the ongoing pandemic has made it a necessity schools are still forced to move classes online to protect educators and students alike.
This isn’t the first time that Vumatel has worked to bring internet for schools. Back in 2016 this programme was piloted in a handful of schools, and the company recently boasted that 385 schools got free 1Gbps fibre lines.
It seems that this has now been unified this into the Free Fibre to Schools programme. At the moment Vumatel claims that more than 290 000 students are using their free connections already.
If you’re part of a school looking to be included in the programme shoot an email to schools[AT]vumatel[DOT]co[DOT]za.
For an institution to qualify it must be a primary or high school registered with the Department of Basic Education or the Independent Examinations Board (IEB). Vumatel will install the fibre connections for the qualifying schools for free and will not charge rental fees after that.
“In addition to the free 1Gbps fibre line provided by Vuma, the school will also be able to enjoy a free 1GBps internet data package from participating internet service providers,” Vumatel’s release concludes.
