South African telecommunications service provider Telkom has announced the introduction of 6000 WiFi hotspots nationally.

In a statement released to the media Manelisa Mavuso, Telkom's managing director: content and value added services, is quoted as saying, "Free WiFi, for business professionals, entrepreneurs, students or just for social media users, is always an attractive and welcome proposition. The changes we've made to our WiFi platform will greatly enhance the experience of users that are not on our network as it now allows them to connect securely and seamlessly to the country's biggest free WiFi access network."

The company has confirmed that from 22 June customers can connect to Telkom WiFI by registering once and then completing username and password authentication to access the Net.

Telkom launched its 30 minutes of free WiFi access to non-Telkom customers from an initial 400 hot-spots in August 2013.

Users were required to connect to its free WiFi access by utilising a solution that entailed the sending of a SMS to acquire a unique pin each time connection was required at a Telkom WiFi hotspot, according to the company.

Non-Telkom customers can purchase additional WiFi bundles for same-day usage, in denominations of 30 or 60 minutes at R15 or R25 respectively.

"Although physical vouchers are still available at Telkom stores, the introduction of WiFi bundle purchases by card means bundles can be bought online through the WiFi portal without leaving the hotspot making the transaction as seamless as possible," says Mavuso.

In its statement Telkom added that its post-paid customers, and pre-paid customers that purchase airtime to the value of R50 or more, will continue to connect via EAP-SIM and MAC Authentication to WiFi in a Telkom hotspot.

User name and Password authentication for Telkom contract and pre-paid customers is scheduled to launch towards the end of August.