ZULU King Goodwill Zwelithini is set to launch his own mobile network, Bayede Mobile on 1 November in South Africa.
What’s Bayede Mobile?
King Zwelithini, a Zulu monarch, has approved the use of the term “Bayede” for various business ventures, without leveraging from it. However, this is all about to change.
Bayede, translated in English, means “all hail the king”, and this is exactly what this mobile network is for — the people in rural areas who, supposedly, hail the king.
Bayede Mobile is a venture led by King Zwelithini, himself, JR Capital and an entity is only known as a ‘well-established Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) with both local and international expertise’.
What Distinguishes Them From The Big Four?
The main drive for Bayede Mobile is accessing derelict rural areas that do not enjoy the best connectivity due to lack of infrastructure.
It appears that the mobile network founders want to distinguish themselves from the four biggest service providers in South Africa (Telkom, MTN, Vodacom and Cell C) by targeting rural areas as a priority.
Director of Bayede Mobile, Jane Nkadimang, told Sowetan Live, that the first point-of-call is to host activations in rural parts of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), making it clear that this is the segment that they are looking to penetrate.
“We will soon have marketing activations in various villages and towns in KZN. We encourage communities to come together and form social groupings so that they can benefit,” she said.
Moreover, Bayede Mobile has added a bit of social responsibility to their offering. Nkadimang revealed that profits made from the mobile network will be channeled back into the communities to fund infrastructure development projects.
“The best thing is that whatever profit that we make will be ploughed back to the community through various community development projects such as clinics and learning centres,” she added.
When will the Mobile Network Launch?
While the team at Bayede Mobile have kept their cards pretty close to their chest about the launch, they did confirm that the mobile network will, most definitely, launch on Friday, 1 November.
The mobile network will, in the short-term, only be available in selected rural communities, in KZN. The hope, Nkadimang said, is that the fast growth of the network will allow it to expand farther out into other provinces.
“This project is one of its kind and we hope to launch it by November 1 this year with a limited number of rural communities as subscribers to the network. In the long run, we hope to roll out the network to other provinces,” Nkadimang said.
