Base station at the school
- Hosted at a school, clinic or government building
- Fed by 100 Mbps uncapped backhaul
- Owned and run by airThemba
Community Wi-Fi Solutions
Connecting Rural Africa
airThemba brings affordable, uncapped internet to rural South African communities. One TV White Space (TVWS) base station at the local school serves up to 200 homes and businesses around it, with nothing to install in the home.
Why it matters
Fewer than one in five South African households has internet at home
Most people get online on a phone, using prepaid data bought in small bundles. Fibre and fixed lines rarely reach rural villages, so families, learners and small businesses go without a dependable connection where they live and work.
17.4%of households had internet at home in 2024
82.1%of households had mobile internet access in 2024
airThemba closes that gap from the community outward: one base station at a trusted local building, shared across the village, sold and supported by local people.
Source: Statistics South Africa, General Household Survey 2024
How it works
Low frequency. No line of sight needed.
TV White Space uses unused television frequencies. The low-frequency signal travels through walls, trees and clutter, so homes need no mast, dish or direct view of the base station.
Signal across the village
- Low frequency, non-line of sight
- Gets through walls, trees and clutter
- Target range of 4 km from the base station
Mi-Fi in the home
- A battery-powered unit that receives TVWS
- Shares a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network around it
- Nothing to install in the home
The business model
Three parties, one local network
airThemba builds and runs the network. Local resellers sell to their neighbours. Homes and businesses buy uncapped internet by the day, week or month, and pay only for what they use.
airThemba
- Owns the assets
- Designs and deploys the network
- Contracts backhaul internet access
- Runs the systems and payment gateway
- Provides training and workflows
- Transparent measurement: routers don’t lie
Local reseller
- Gains the end customer
- Sells the products
- Sets up Mi-Fi at homes and businesses
- Customer support
- Revenue growth
Local businesses and homes
- Economic growth
- Access to national and international markets
- Online business opportunities
- Education
Uncapped products
Sold by local resellers, pay as you go. Customers top up when they need to.
R20per day
R99per week
R299per month
The Elandsdrift pilot
Proving it works, technically and commercially
We are testing one TVWS base station and 70 Mi-Fi units at Elandsdrift in North West Province. The pilot will establish whether low-frequency connectivity can deliver a cost-effective service that needs no home installation and no direct line of sight.
A Mi-Fi unit is a small, battery-powered device, like an LTE dongle. It receives the TVWS signal and shares it as a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network for the people around it.
Measurement is transparent. Every unit reports what it carries, so the pilot’s results are measured, not estimated: routers don’t lie.
100MbpsUncapped backhaul to the base station
4kmTarget Mi-Fi range from the base station
70Mi-Fi units planned for the pilot
R180Target monthly revenue per home
Our goals
What the pilot sets out to prove
The pilot gives us, and the partners who back it, the evidence to connect one community after another.
Prove the technology
Show that one TVWS base station reaches Mi-Fi units across a village, through walls and clutter, with no line of sight.
Prove the business
Show that daily, weekly and monthly products, sold locally, reach our target of R180 per home per month.
Build local businesses
Train local resellers to sign up customers, sell products and give support, and to grow their own revenue.
Grow site by site
Use the pilot results to bring the model to more schools, clinics and government buildings in rural South Africa.
Our team
The people behind airThemba
Two decades of building community networks, and the commercial experience to keep them running.
Richard Macalonke
51% shareholder and network engineerRichard is a network builder with 20 years of experience and a qualified MikroTik network engineer. He is an expert at training and developing grassroots community networks, and is currently bringing affordable connectivity to Mbizana in the Eastern Cape.
Tim Genders
Business developmentTim is a telecoms and connectivity professional focused on expanding internet access across Southern Africa. His work covers the full life of a connectivity business, from fibre network deployment to the commercial strategy that keeps customers connected. He leads business development, identifying partnerships and growth opportunities.
Get in contact
Help us connect Elandsdrift, then the next community
We are looking for funders and corporate social investment partners to back the pilot and the sites that follow. Get in touch and we will share the full proposal.