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Business Reporter
LIQUID Telecom has built 200 Wi-Fi hotspots around the country with 80 percent of them being spread around Harare supporting the drive towards a cyber city. The Liquid Telecom Wi-Fi is distributed by Liquid’s retail company, ZOL Zimbabwe, through its ZOLspots. These are mostly located in shopping malls, restaurants, sports clubs, all the county’s airports and some tertiary institutions.

Some of the locations are Sam Levy’s Village, Avondale shopping centre, Westgate shopping centre, Eastgate mall, Harare International Airport, Joshua Mqabuko International Airport, Victoria Falls Airport, Bulawayo Center, Seke Teachers College, Bindura University and Joina City.

“ZOL Zimbabwe is the sole distributor of WiFi hotspots to several Innscor outlets. One of the most interesting Wi-Fi partnerships would be the presence of Liquid Telecom at all Innscor Fastfoods premises/outlets and these consist of Chicken Inn, Creamy Inn, Bakers Inn and Pizza Inn. This deal has revolutionized food consumption as Wi-Fi consumption has become the driving force behind food consumption,” said Ms Perpetua Chimeura the WiFi product manager for Liquid Telecom.

“Most people especially the youth have confirmed that Wi-Fi availability influences their restaurant hangout decision as they would check first if the service is available,” she said.

According to the Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbzabwe quarterly report of March 2015, internet penetration rate is at 43 percent implying that there is a huge untapped market and demand for connectivity may rise. The notion behind the installation of public Wi-Fi hotspots is that almost everyone gets an opportunity to access the internet everywhere and anywhere.

The ZOLspot can be accessed through a once off registration process. Thereafter one simply tops up using online payment methods such as PayPal, VISA and MasterCard. Payments can also be made through mobile payment platforms such as Ecocash, Telecash, Netcash.

“Liquid Telecom Wi-Fi is not only limited to public Hotspots as distributed through ZOLspots. With the coming of the infrastructure sharing legislature, the Liquid Wi-Fi is carrier grade hence enabling it to support other service providers who want to ride on the infrastructure to distribute their Wi-Fi service to their clients as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs),” said Ms Chimeura.