Sebenza Wi-Fi, the free-to-use minibus taxi connectivity service used by two million South African commuters yearly, is scaling up through a partnership with Toyota that will see its hotspots installed into all new Quantum taxis.
Speaking at a media event in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Sebenza co-founder and CEO Wesley Dorning said the company’s business model, which is centred on sharing value with commuters, brands, drivers, owners and taxi associations, has contributed to its success.
“We’re in 7 500 taxis in total and around a thousand buses. We have created a value-exchange platform where users earn ‘Sebenza Bucks’ to access free Wi-Fi by either watching advertising, taking surveys or engaging with other types of content,” said Dorning. “Everybody that comes into contact with Sebenza gets value.”
The router Sebenza uses in each taxi can accommodate up to 50 connected devices at a time. Dorning said speeds average between 30Mbit/s and 50Mbit/s, depending on the quality of the 4G/LTE network in a particular area. The router has two omnidirectional antennae and a range of up to 100m. Sebenza sessions in different vehicles are continuous, so users keep their Sebenza Bucks across time.
Drivers get the added advantage of continuous connectivity once they get home and, according to Dorning, some have even used their taxi Wi-Fi to help their children with homework and access to extra study materials.
Rapid roll-out
Sebenza has customised its router and cables to minimise installation time to 10 minutes per vehicle. The installation process was demonstrated to communications minister Solly Malatsi at the Randburg taxi rank in Johannesburg as part of Thursday’s media event. Dorning said reducing installation time was important for getting buy-in from drivers, who cannot lose out on revenue during peak periods.
Sebenza’s partnership with Toyota simplifies the installation process even further by turning it into an activation-only process. In future, once the South African National Taxi Association (Santaco) gets the buy-in from a subset of its members, it will give Sebenza the instruction to activate the service in those taxis, which can even be done remotely.
Read: South Africa’s first electric minibus taxi to hit the road
“This is important to us as we scale nationally because it enables us to get more commuters connected faster and seamlessly,” said Dorning.
Malatsi praised the initiative, saying there is an unfilled gap in connectivity for people as they travel from their homes to places of work and schools. He urged Sebenza to look at the next level of the connectivity divide by providing users with the educational tools they need to make productive use of their time online.
“Through education and skilling, we will get more South Africans to participate in the digital economy and give them an opportunity to better their lives through connectivity,” said Malatsi.
The move forms part of plans by Sebenza and Santaco to expand connectivity to more of the country’s 250 000 taxis in service. Speaking at the same event, Santaco spokeswoman Rebecca Phala said the initiative is important because it lays the foundation for other projects the organisation has in the pipeline, which include the introduction of digital payment options and tag-based loading options for commuters.
Phala added that by digitising the everyday commute, Santaco is showing the public that the taxi industry is willing to “move with the times” as commuters embrace the digital era, emphasising that Santaco’s partnership with Sebenza has allowed the taxi organisation to move faster than it could have alone.
“The taxi industry is embracing modernity literally and in the work that we do. We know the business of getting an operating licence and managing routes; what we don’t know is some of the legislation around digitisation that minister Malatsi has cited or how the internet of things gets to be realised in our industry– that is where Sebenza comes in.
“Had we tried to do it ourselves, perhaps the conversation would not be where it is now. So, the taxi industry understands the importance of partnering with those, especially in the private sector and in government, who understand these things better,” said Phala. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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