Wanting to share your Mall of Africa experience with your friends and family on social media? Needing to send a business email in the midst of shopping? Not a problem! You can surf the internet for free wherever you are at Mall of Africa. By Staff Writer
VAST Networks, South Africa’s first open-access Wi-Fi Network, along with global wireless equipment provider Ruckus Wireless., have successfully deployed the continent’s largest mall Wi-Fi installation to provide consumers and retailers with a reliable and fast Wi-Fi experience throughout Mall of Africa.
Wi-Fi on this scale has never been delivered before on the continent, marking yet another “African first” for VAST Networks. The teams installed more than one thousand highly advanced and future-ready access points and the network backbone to deliver a world class Wi-Fi experience.
“A deployment of this scale is a massive undertaking by world standards and an African first which we are very proud of. We are ready to go and cannot wait for visitors to enjoy a Wi-Fi experience that will support any requirements, be it surfing, streaming, downloading large files or simply staying connected to their world,” says VAST Networks CEO, Grant Marais.
To meet a challenge of this nature, VAST Networks planned the roll-out with its partners, including Ruckus Wireless for more than a year, with technicians working on the site for nearly six months making sure that once the mall opens, users experience the sublime Wi-Fi service they deserve.
Riaan Graham, sales director at Ruckus Wireless sub-Saharan Africa, commented: “The Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi solution deployed at Mall of Africa is a future-ready network that delivers increased device density and wireless monetisation opportunities for retailers. The technology provides maximum signal coverage, throughput and network capacity in a high-density area.”
At more than 130,000 square meters of retail space, the Mall of Africa required a solution that could not only handle the capacity requirements of more than 300 shops and thousands of anticipated daily visitors, but also cope with ever growing data demand.
People want to remain connected wherever they are. This is especially true in a retail environment where they want to search for the latest shopping specials and share interesting things they see with family and friends.
Retailers are also looking at more innovative ways of promoting products and services to customers and a Wi-Fi network at a mall is the perfect platform to do so.
