1500 taxis to get wifi in six months: Santaco

A total of 1500 taxis and 50 taxi ranks around the country will have access to free limited wifi connection within six months, the SA National Taxi Council said on Thursday.

"We want to keep our 15 million daily commuters and attract more people back to using public transport in general and taxis in particular," Santaco president Philip Taaibosch said.

The taxi council was in Soweto to launch the project. It is in partnership with Telkom on the project.

The first phase would see 1500 taxis and 50 selected taxi ranks equipped with wifi within the first six months, Santaco said.

The subsequent phases would see between 4000 and 5000 wifi access points installed monthly.

Each commuter would receive 50MB free data a month, on 3G and LTE (4G) platforms.

Santaco said the installation of wifi in all taxis and taxi ranks would be done within three years.