Are n't Internet cafes becoming a threat to telecentres?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Agbenyo John Stephen on March 24, 2009 at 9:08am

Hello Sandra and all,
i have been following the discussions with interest. I have had and still have the opportunity to work with 4 Community Information Centres (as telecentres are called in Ghana). The Policy establishing the Community Information Centres seeks to make them a hybrid of both for profit making business centres and not for profit information centres. This, in my view seeks to both sustain the centres while serving the information needs of the community.

The threat of cyber cafes can be looked at two angles; one if the telecentres are innovative in their activities and services, then they need not bother that much about the threats of cyber cafes. A hybrid would do.

Certainly, if they are not innovative and only concentrate on the provision of information and low cost services, they will certainly fail.

I agree that most internet cafes are in the towns and cities and not at the community (rural) areas) but my experience and recent exposure tells me that the internet cafes are gradually entering into the rural areas. This should keep the telecentre Managers thinking and being innovative.

Cheers!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dean Mulozi on March 24, 2009 at 3:14pm

Dear all,

The contriibutions in this discussion makes me to understand that the evolution of telecenters is making a mark in development worldwide.

The recent points and reminders made by Meddie and challenges raised made by Polly are very important that Cybercafes will no longer be a question or threat to development of telecenters.

Telecenters around the world operate under different environments and the points we learn from this discussion can also contribute to and make telecenters more competitive and sustainable than any other institution at local level. .

What is interesting in telecenters are its features and position at community level that have a greater pontetial to attract any kind of either business or development partnership with different levels of organisations. The characteristics and features of telecenters make them more attractive to Private - Public sector Partnerships(PPP), that cuts accross all sectors. I borrow the following points raised from this discussion as important to telecenter development and sustainability

Community ownership, "Who owns telecenters? Who are its users? What are the needs at a community level" (I understand that there are telecenters owned by private individuals)
Government paying for some services, " and through social contract delivery services"
Community meeting access costs, "Either through direct payment of user fees, membership or direct grant contributions.
Private sector helping to create value added services, "Creation of Commercial service contracts" e.g MTN or ZAIN mobile companies demonstrating product marketing at the location of a telecenter. HP, Compac testing its products at a telelecenter" etc
Civil society channeling content and services through telecentres etc. " E.g HIV/Aids health information resources through a telecenters" etc


All the above are all income streams that makes it greater for telecenters to beat cometitors at a local level. What matters are innovations and initiatives of manangement staff.


However, in other regions, telecenters face immernse challenges as pointed by Polly but there is always a way out. Other options are to ensure that the government avoids direct intervetions in the operations of community institutions as their role is to create platforms. Direct intervetions by government breads spoon feeding and this may not be helpful to any other institutions be it a telecenters. .

Thanks and hope this discussion is helping many of us.....


Dean,

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shipra Sharma on March 25, 2009 at 6:33am

Hi everybody,
I will like to reply to Sandra's observations first. Yes, in India private Computer Training Centres (CTCs) offre a stiff competition to telecentres. Very often, an instructor from the telecentre or a student trained by the telecentre opens these CTCs and charges very nominal training fees (often as low as Rs. 100 or $2) from the students. The telecentre's training fees are comparatively higher and it has to share its revenue with the franchiser also. So, the telecentre loses its instructor, loses its student clientele to the CTCs and consequently loses revenue.

Polly's observations are interesting for me also and make me think how the same issue has different implications in different countries. Contrary to her observation as cited by Sandra, Indian telecentres are eager to be chosen as delivery point for eGovernance related services as it becomes a source of income for them. Surely, different forms of government and governance practices are the reason behind it. This makes the case for cross country research in the field of telecentres even more important.

To Dean Mulozi's comments--"Community ownership, "Who owns telecenters? Who are its users? What are the needs at a community level" (I understand that there are telecenters owned by private individuals)"-- my answer is that yes, in India there are community owned telecentres. In fact, the first telecentres set up by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and supported by IDRC in Pondicherry were community owned. These are essentially "of the community, for the community and by the community". In this model, the village community provides the space for the telecentre, bears its expenses and also provides volunteers to run the centre. It caters to the needs of the community which are decided after an extensive and participatory need assessment exercise. Its services are utilised by all sections of the community. The Embalam telecentre at Pondicherry is a good example. But now, individual run telecentres are becoming more popular.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sandra Nassali on March 25, 2009 at 9:45am

wow, great ideas you have got there Shipra

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Wangchuk Chungyalpa on March 27, 2009 at 1:27pm

Hi Shirpa,
it is was published in one of the reports that India has an estimated 10,000 cyber dhabas/cafes. Probably due to the hign demand for IT education in India, private computer training centers are thriving, however the same cannot be said of the cyber dhabas/cafes in india. Many of the so called cybercafes, are all located in urban centers. The vast majority only have 7 to 10 computers. The equipment is outdated and the services they provide are very limited and not innovative. In india, primarily due to government funding and policy, telecentres / computer information centers were established throughout the country. In my own home state of Sikkim, 40 CICs were established all across the state - including in the very remote and rural areas. To conclude, it is the cyber dhabas that have always held the short end of the stick in India.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by A.K.M Ganiul Zadid (জাদীদ) on March 28, 2009 at 11:31am

Both are enterprise and globally access point. Thanks for such forum topic.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Masahudu M. Marhey on April 2, 2009 at 4:32pm

Hello sandra, you are really right but let me differ small from your thought. Indeed internet cafes and telecentres are like siemens twins. This is because they perform the same functions in our communities. But it is interesting to note that, internet cafes's are profit oriented organizations where as telecentres are not. Also the purpose of establishing telecentres is to bridge the communication gap between the urban dwellers and the rural settlers and there are clearly different entities. If we observe critically telecentres are situated in the villages where as internet cafe's are for the cities. Even though they render the same services, I stand to say that internet cafe's do not in any way serve as a threat to telecentres. What we really need is the political "will" to telecentres a more vibrant institutions.
Thank you for bringing up this topic for discussion.

Masahudu M. Marhey.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sandra Nassali on April 3, 2009 at 2:52am

Hello Masahudu, thank you for your contribution..

▶ Reply to This

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page