A new Internet Service Provider (ISP) on the block, Sky Internet SA is the brain child of Gqeberha born, Nyanga East raised 29-year-old, Lorna Mlonzi. The ISP company has been in the making for 4 years, after carefully studying lower income household’s needs and the need for a fast reliable internet fibre connectivity.
Mlonzi who is a cisco certified network engineer, holds a National Diploma in Information Communication Technology (ICT) from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She’s worth reputable telecommunications companies and Internet Service Providers such as Cell C, Vodacom, Dimension Data, RSA Web and Even Flow to name a few.
After years in the industry, under the guidance of many industry experts including ESET, where she learned Cyber security and at Even Flow, where she learnt Business Administration and Business & Financial Management, she’s found a gap in the lower income market and says access to the internet is longer a luxury but a necessity.
“I started Sky Internet SA to bridge the digital gap between the haves and the have nots. Looking at multiple possibilities of how we can use connectivity as tool for transformation in townships. Access to the internet enabled me, as black woman and a product of the township to access information which changed my life professionally and my personal development. Sky Internet SA aims to change the narrative of how we view our circumstances, our spaces and ourselves. We want to be an agent of change” – Lorna Mlonzi, CEO – Sky Internet SA.
This venture did not come without its challenges. Tier 1 service providers have criterias in place that hinder barriers to entry. For example, one company advised Sky Internet SA that it should have 1000 fibre subscribers existing on its network before it was all systems go, however this was impossible because 2 years ago there was no fibre lines in the townships. Administrations costs such an client onboarding softwares, API Integration, Icasa licensing are exuberant for startups. Lorna has had to had find investors overseas particularly in Sweden.
Sky Internet SA has gone live in Nyanga, Langa and Gugulethu with plans to roll out in Khayelitsha, Phillipi and the rest of the Western Cape. For more details visit skyinternet.co.za or email in**@sk*********.za .
