Press Release:

Applications Open for the Newly Unveiled ISPA Inspires Bursary Programme

Published on: 2020-12-01

South Africa’s Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) invites applications for its newly unveiled “ISPA Inspires” bursary programme.

The inaugural ISPA Inspires bursaries will be awarded to one or more promising young candidates interested in pursuing a career in the ISP (Internet Service Provider) sector.

Applications open on Tuesday, 01 December 2020 and applicants should be individuals recognised in terms of the National Youth Policy, and may be current or prospective students at a recognised South African TVET or higher educational institution.
Applicants may not be funded by an existing bursary.
Preference will be given to students enrolled or planning to enrol in a field of study related to ICT (Information and Communications Technology).

A balanced scorecard will be used by ISPA to evaluate the applications while details of the institution providing the training and proper references must be provided.

“The ISPA Inspires Bursary programme represents ISPA’s latest contribution towards boosting South Africa’s pool of ICT talent. We believe it is important to encourage and assist our youth to enter the ICT Sector, which will contribute towards economic growth while strengthening the Sector itself.” says Aurora Vani chair of ISPA’s SocDev (Social Development) Working Group.

The launch of the ISPA Inspires Bursary programme 2020 follows the 2019 retirement of ISPA’s teacher training programme which saw the association and its partners train well over 3 000 teachers in ICT skills over 19 years, thanks to the support of ISPA members.

After a decade and a half of investing in teachers, ISPA is looking forward to working towards the development of the country’s youth. The Association will call on its members to support its ISPA Inspires bursary programme with the same energy and enthusiasm that previously made the teachers training programme a great success.

Please see below for application details:

Step 1: Visit www.ISPA.org.za and click on the BURSARY tab to apply. (Or go directly to https://ispa.org.za/inspires)
Step 2: Click on ‘Register’ to create an account.
Step 3: You will receive a confirmation email with your login details once you have registered.
Step 4: Log in to the website using your credentials and apply by following the Bursary application link in the menu.
Step 5: Upload all the required documents before 30 December 2020.
Step 6: Enter the information required and provide your motivation for receiving an ISPA Inspires bursary.
Step 7: Await feedback.

More information about ISPA can be found at www.ispa.org.za. Follow @ISPA_ZA on Twitter.

Further Information

For further information, please contact the ISPA secretariat on the Contact ISPA page.

FNO	Ratings	Overall average	Value	Reliability	Support	Technical	Comms	Staff	Business processes	Software Systems	Open access	Optimism	Promoting
123NET	1	3.1	4.0	2.0	2.0	4.0	1.0	6.0	6.0	2.0	3.0	3.0	1.0
Balwin Fibre	3	4.7	2.3	4.5	3.3	5.3	6.0	5.3	6.0	6.0	3.3	5.3	4.7
Clear Access	2	6.5	6.5	7.5	7.0	7.0	6.0	7.5	6.0	5.0	7.5	5.5	6.5
Connectivity Services Fibre	1	4.6	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	5.0	5.0	6.0	4.0		5.0	5.0
Dark Fibre Africa	24	5.8	5.8	6.3	5.3	6.5	5.2	6.3	5.4	5.3	7.1	5.5	5.8
DNATel	3	6.9	5.3	7.0	7.3	7.3	7.3	7.3	6.3	6.0	7.3	7.7	6.7
Evotel	4	6.1	6.3	6.8	6.8	5.8	5.0	6.3	5.5	5.3	6.8	6.5	6.0
FibreSuburb Networks	2	6.0	3.0	8.5	4.0	7.5	8.0	9.0	4.5	4.0	4.5	7.0	6.0
Frogfoot	30	6.3	5.9	5.9	6.1	6.8	6.7	6.9	6.7	7.0	5.4	5.8	5.6
Garden Route Fibre Network	2	5.5	5.0	6.5	8.0	8.0	8.0	7.0	3.5	2.0	4.0	5.5	3.5
Huge Networks	1	2.8	2.0	4.0	5.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Internect	3	7.0	7.0	8.0	8.0	8.5	6.0	7.5	6.5	5.5	6.0	7.0	7.3
Lightspeed (Cybersmart)	3	7.0	7.0	7.3	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	7.0	6.5	5.0	6.3	6.3
Lightstruck	8	4.4	4.0	3.8	4.4	4.0	4.0	5.0	5.0	4.8	4.7	4.3	4.7
Link Africa	17	5.9	6.9	5.8	5.1	5.4	5.1	6.5	6.0	5.3	7.3	5.8	5.9
Link Layer	6	6.1	6.2	5.3	5.5	6.2	5.2	7.3	5.8	6.3	7.7	6.2	5.8
Linteg	3	3.2	4.3	4.7	3.3	3.3	2.3	4.0	2.0	1.3	3.3	3.3	3.0
Liquid Intelligent Technologies	9	4.7	5.2	5.8	5.0	6.1	4.2	5.8	3.9	3.9	3.1	4.0	4.2
Mesh Telecom	2	5.7	6.5	7.0	7.5	7.5	5.5	6.5	6.0	4.5	3.5	4.0	4.5
Metrofibre	24	6.8	7.0	7.2	6.7	7.3	6.7	7.4	7.2	6.7	5.4	6.5	6.3
Mitsol	4	4.8	5.0	5.5	5.3	5.0	4.5	5.5	3.5	3.8	6.0	4.5	4.5
MTN	6	4.7	6.2	6.0	3.5	4.5	3.5	4.2	2.8	3.0	6.0	6.0	5.5
Netstream	2	2.1	2.5	1.5	2.0	2.5	2.0	3.0	3.5	1.5	2.0	1.5	1.0
Octotel	17	6.8	6.7	7.3	7.3	7.3	6.6	6.5	6.6	7.4	6.1	6.7	6.7
Open Fibre	2	1.5	3.0	3.0	1.5	1.5	1.5	0.5	1.5	1.5	1.0	0.5	0.5
Openserve	38	7.0	7.1	8.4	6.4	7.4	6.3	6.6	6.9	6.5	7.3	6.9	7.3
Purple Forest Fibre	1	6.9	7.0	9.0	8.0	8.0	6.0	9.0	5.0	2.0	8.0	8.0	6.0
Route Networks	2	2.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	4.5	4.0	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	1.5	0.0
Seacom FibreCo	5	5.7	6.8	5.8	6.2	6.2	5.0	6.8	6.6	5.5	4.0	5.0	4.4
Teralink Networks	2	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.0	2.5	0.0	0.0
Thinkspeed	5	5.0	4.4	5.4	4.8	5.2	4.5	5.2	5.0	4.8	5.6	5.0	5.2
TT Connect	7	6.0	6.4	6.6	6.0	6.7	5.3	6.3	5.7	5.6	6.4	5.4	5.4
Vodacom	8	4.1	4.3	4.6	4.0	5.1	3.4	3.6	3.6	4.6	4.6	4.4	3.5
Vumatel	25	6.0	5.6	6.1	5.3	6.3	5.4	5.9	6.0	6.0	6.6	6.5	6.0
Waterfall Access Networks	3	4.1	2.0	7.7	3.0	6.5	3.0	3.0	3.0	1.5	8.5	3.0	3.5
Zoom Fibre	3	7.2	7.3	7.0	7.3	7.0	7.7	7.3	7.0	6.0	7.7	7.3	7.0

FNO	Ratings	Overall average	Value	Reliability	Support	Technical	Comms	Staff	Business processes	Software Systems	Open access	Optimism	Promoting
Balwin Fibre	2	7.0	9.0	8.0	7.0	7.0	7.0	7.0	8.0	6.0	5.0	6.0	7.0
Clear Access	2	7.4	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	3.5	7.5	6.5	7.5
Dark Fibre Africa	28	5.0	5.4	4.5	3.5	5.7	4.6	5.3	4.4	4.6	7.5	5.2	4.6
DNATel	1	9.7	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	8.0	10.0	10.0	9.0
Evotel	4	7.5	7.3	7.5	7.5	7.5	7.8	8.8	7.8	7.3	6.7	6.7	7.5
FibreSuburb Networks	1	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0		8.0	8.0	8.0	8.0
Frogfoot	25	5.3	4.3	5.6	4.9	5.9	5.6	6.0	5.6	6.2	5.0	4.5	4.4
Huge Networks	2	1.2	2.0	2.0	2.0	0.5	1.0	3.0	1.5	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.0
Internect	2	6.5	6.0	7.0	8.0	7.0	7.0	8.0	6.0	5.0	5.0	6.0	6.0
Lightspeed (Cybersmart)	6	6.7	7.7	7.5	6.2	6.5	6.6	7.0	6.8	7.0	5.8	6.5	6.5
Lightstruck	5	6.5	5.6	5.8	6.8	7.3	6.3	7.8	7.0	6.0	6.8	6.6	6.0
Link Africa	9	6.8	7.8	7.1	6.8	7.0	5.8	6.9	7.0	5.8	7.9	6.6	6.1
Link Layer	3	6.8	7.7	7.0	7.3	7.3	6.3	7.0	6.3	6.3	7.0	6.3	6.3
Linteg	3	2.8	3.3	3.0	3.0	2.7	2.7	3.7	3.0	2.7	2.3	2.7	2.3
Liquid Intelligent Technologies	9	5.9	6.4	7.3	6.1	6.7	6.1	6.3	4.6	4.3	5.1	5.9	6.4
Mesh Telecom	2	7.9	7.0	7.0	6.5	9.0	6.5	8.0	9.0	9.0	9.0	9.0	6.5
Metrofibre	18	6.9	6.9	6.7	6.8	7.5	6.9	7.9	7.4	6.9	5.7	6.7	6.4
Mitsol	2	8.3	8.5	9.5	9.0	9.0	8.0	8.5	7.0	7.5	8.5	8.0	8.0
MTN	5	4.3	4.4	5.6	5.2	4.6	3.4	4.2	4.4	3.8	3.8	3.8	4.2
Netstream	2	8.1	8.0	8.0	9.0	8.5	8.5	8.5	7.0	6.5	8.5	8.5	8.0
Octotel	12	6.5	5.9	7.0	7.1	7.2	6.9	6.8	6.8	6.8	5.5	5.8	6.0
Open Fibre	4	5.7	5.8	5.8	4.8	4.8	5.7	6.3	6.3	6.3	6.5	5.0	5.3
Openserve	29	6.1	6.7	7.9	5.7	6.6	5.4	5.7	5.4	5.1	7.0	5.5	6.3
Purple Forest Fibre	3	6.8	6.0	8.0	7.0	6.7	6.7	7.7	6.0	5.0	6.7	7.7	8.0
Seacom FibreCo	6	6.2	7.3	7.2	6.3	7.2	6.7	7.7	7.2	2.5	5.0	5.4	6.2
Teralink Networks	3	2.4	1.0	2.7	2.0	3.7	3.0	4.0	2.3	2.3	0.5	2.3	2.3
Thinkspeed	5	6.3	5.4	6.3	6.0	7.3	7.5	7.0	6.8	5.4	5.5	6.3	5.8
TT Connect	6	5.2	5.7	5.8	5.5	6.0	5.2	5.5	5.3	3.6	4.6	4.6	5.2
Vodacom	9	4.2	4.6	4.7	3.3	4.9	3.8	4.8	4.6	4.0	4.0	4.1	3.1
Vumatel	21	5.2	4.9	5.3	4.7	5.4	4.5	5.5	5.4	5.4	6.3	5.2	4.8
Waterfall Access Networks	3	6.0	6.3	7.3	6.7	7.0	6.0	5.3	5.7	4.7	5.3	5.7	6.0
Zoom Fibre	7	7.4	8.3	7.7	7.4	7.6	7.7	8.0	6.7	6.1	7.1	7.0	7.3