Consumer electronics producer Samsung Electronics on Tuesday handed over its first South African Digital Village to the community of Malibongwe Ridge, in Gauteng.

The multibillion-dollar village, which was first unveiled in October last year, would provide the community with much-needed education and health services.

Speaking at the handover ceremony Samsung Electronics VP and CFO Minkyu Lee said that through the company’s Digital Village programme it aimed to bring comprehensive services to underserved communities.

“We believe in the development of young people for the future of the African continent,” he said, stating that, therefore, the Digital Village included “state-of-the-art technology” to enhance learning and teaching through a solar-powered Internet school.

The solar-powered classroom, built in a 12-m-long shipping container, included equipment, such as Samsung Notebooks and Netbooks, an interactive whiteboard or e-board and Samsung Galaxy tablets, all of which was powered by the facility’s solar panels. The school could accommodate up to 24 learners at a time.

Further, the Malibongwe Ridge Digital Village included a solar-powered health centre, which provided a variety of eye, ear, blood, dental and pre- and postnatal screening and treatments to the community, as well as a solar-powered telemedical centre, which afforded the community access to remote medical assistance, reducing the need for qualified medical doctors in rural areas.

The Digital Village also had a solar-powered generator, which would provide easy, affordable power to facilities in the area.

Lee pointed out that, by the end of this year, Samsung would have rolled out similar Digital Villages in ten African countries.

Aside from the operational facility in Gauteng, Samsung was currently shipping equipment to Ethiopia and Gabon to establish Digital Villages there, Samsung Africa head of public affairs and corporate citizenship Ntutule Tshenye told Engineering News Online, adding that further villages were planned in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania, among others.

“In South Africa, our local office is also looking to roll out an additional [local] Digital Village this year, in the greater Tshwane metropolitan area,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lee pointed out that Samsung had partnered with local nongovernmental organisations and the Gauteng Department of Economic Development (GDED), through a memorandum of understanding, for the development of the Malibongwe Ridge Digital Village.

Speaking at the facility handover, Gauteng GDED head Albert Chanee said the department was focusing on ways in which the province could reduce its carbon footprint while simultaneously driving economic growth, specifically through information and communications technology development, adding that, in this context, the Digital Village was welcomed as an “integrated project combining digital aspects with safer, greener energy”.