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

[Polly Gaster]

Hello all

I think Dean and Yacine between them make the point - if all the telecentre is
doing is performing as a 2nd class Internet cafe, selling access and
photocopies and suchlike, then it could be in trouble when competition
appears. And no doubt some of our telecentres could be in this situation. But
if the telecentre is doing what it is supposed to do in terms of contributing
to local development activities, involving itself in the community, providing
services that nobody else is offering, then it can survive.

It's also true that when the private operator appears the first thing he does
is steal all the best people trained by the telecentre - that's happened in
Mozambique on various occasions. But we know when we work with volunteers that
it's inevitable that people will move on, whether to a private Internet cafe
or elsewhere - that's why the training strategy is so important, and the
sharing of information and good working methods of the telecentres.

The Internet cafes have learned from the telecentres and are now providing
more services - in Mozambique in the beginning one couldn't even print out, or
copy onto a diskette or flash, and they never gave any training or support.
Now they are doing these things. But one CMC in a largeish town with quite a
few "competitors" told us that their demand for training never ends, because
the word has gone round that the CMC's training courses are the only good
ones. So quality of service is another factor where the telecentre can
demonstrate its social goals in practice...

Polly

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Polly Gaster
TICs para Desenvolvimento/ICT4D
Centro de Informatica da Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (CIUEM)
Campus Universitario, Maputo, Mozambique
e-mail: polly.gaster at uem.mz
cel: +258-82-3264540
tel/fax: +258-21-485779
Skype: polly_gaster


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