Swift Network, a telecommunications company, on Monday introduced a free broadband Wi-Fi service to Lagos residents, targeting 1,000 hotspots within the next six months.
The Chief Executive Officer, Swift Network, Mr Charles Anudu, during the unveiling of the service said said the service would be pushed out through a new brand under the stable of Swift Network called ”Red Cheetah”.
“The Red Cheetah is expected to help deepen Nigeria’s broadband penetration and aspiration for universal access to greater social equity and inclusion.
“The service follows the Swift tradition of demystifying and making technology to work for Nigerians so that they can hook up to the digital world to explore, work and entertain more effectively.
“This cutting edge service model will rapidly be extended to more cities in Nigeria and the continent,” he said.
Anudu said as regards the security of the service, users access would be enhanced by Red Cheetah app, which would establish a distinct and secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection to the internet for each device on the platform.
“We are happy that everything about Red Cheetah is Nigerian and this shows that we can achieve when we commit to solving the problems of our society, taking our context into consideration.
“Our plan is to roll out Red Cheetah hotspots in Lagos which will be the largest Wi-Fi footprint anywhere in Africa and will cover many verticals including schools, airports, buses, taxis, shopping malls, anywhere Nigerians need research, catch up on work.
“This revolutionary service powered by Swift is fast, secure, reliable and supported by legendary sponsor brands with strong commitment to corporate social responsibility to Nigerian,” he said.
Anudu said that Red Cheetah hotspots went live in Lagos earlier this month at certain locations like in over 200-BRT buses, some Taster Fried Chicken, Eko Hospital and is still ongoing to meet the 1000 target in Lagos.
He said that for an outlet to have the service, it had to attract 20 people with smart device on a daily basis.
He urged users not to decline on the adverts that take place in the service, so as not to be cut off.
The Swift Network CEO said the advertisers pay for such free service, adding that with time and feedback from users, changes would be made as regards the adverts.
He urged prospective Red Cheetah users to first download the app free on Android from Google Play Store and complete a mandatory one-time online registration process.
He said that users were allowed to register multiple Android service as every device must be independently registered to access the internet via Red Cheetah.
