Data firm to offer free Internet

An Internet service provider has offered African entrepreneurs who publish local content online free connections, free website hosting and unlimited Internet usage for two years.

Liquid Telecom Kenya launched ‘Information Enabler’ programme targeting content start-ups in Africa with nine or fewer employees. To qualify, the start-up will need to be producing original content of demonstrable utility in promoting economic growth and development. It will also need to be posting new information on the Internet at least three times a week.

Liquid Telkom Kenya CEO Mr Ben Roberts said: “The key to our selection will be the quality, frequency, and utility of the information that these entrepreneurs are producing and delivering.”

Roberts noted that Africa’s rapid move online called for the growth of an information sphere built by local entrepreneurs or techpreneurs.

“These information providers are set to be the enablers of much of the economic growth that will flow from the continent’s greater connectivity.

Our program has also been designed to aid these businesses by keeping African data in Africa, thereby enabling more rapid and easier access for African Internet users,” said Mr Roberts.