ProtonVPN has announced that it is expanding into the African continent with four new servers launching in South Africa. The servers will provide speedy net access for people in surrounding countries including Uganda and Tanzania where internet restrictions apply.
Dr Andy Yen, CEO of ProtonMail, discussed the expansion, saying:
“Like ProtonMail, ProtonVPN was developed to protect journalists and activists around the world, many who are working under very restrictive regimes. An increasing number of our users are from Africa and extending our network to Africa will improve performance for all ProtonVPN users on the continent.”
As with the majority of ProtonMail servers, you’ll need a paid account in order to use the South African servers. Server 1 will be available for those on the Basic plan, while servers 2, 3, and 4 require Plus or Visionary subscriptions.
South Africa is listed highest by Freedom House in terms of internet freedom in sub-Saharan Africa. For this reason, it was an ideal place for VPN servers to help those in neighbouring countries who want to get around government blocks. In addition, it allows travelling South Africans to keep up with any geo-restricted content on South African websites. The new VPN servers are optimised for streaming making them good for watching Hulu, HBO GO, ZDF, Channel 4, and Channel 5.
The new servers also make up part of ProtonVPN’s special network dedicated to P2P file sharing with friends. If you want to take out a subscription to use the servers, check out ProtonVPN’s pricing page.