US tech giant Google announced it has ditched its Google Station program aiming at providing free Wi-Fi services in isolated areas in South Africa. The announcement came three months after the project was launched in November 2019 in Cape Town. 

Currently, the initiative covers 125 locations across Langa, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Delft, Elsies River, and Philippi. 

Google says the decision to quit the project comes from constraints related to the telecom environment in South Africa. “Since we first started, the ecosystem has evolved and combined with complex and varying technical requirements across countries and partners, we have been re-evaluating our plans and have decided to wind down Station through 2020,” said Google South Africa.

The good news, however, is that the project will continue, now led by google's local partner Think WiFi.

“We’ll work with Think WiFi on a plan to transition the service to them, and continue to support them until the end of 2020. We remain committed to looking for ways to make the internet more accessible to users around the world,” Google explained.

According to Janine Rebelote who heads Think WiFi, "the launch of the free Wi-Fi initiative in the Western Cape has been more successful than anticipated and plans are already underway to roll out free WiFi to the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, and some areas in Mpumalanga.”