The Internet Café Industry in South

Africa
Ramon Thomas
ramon@netucation.co.za
www.netucation.co.za
Introduction
 Background
 What is an Internet Café?
 What are the worldwide trends?
 What is status quo in South Africa?
What is an Internet Café?
 A café or shop that provides Internet
Access to the public at a fee
 Community access
 Helps to bridge the “digital divide”
The Internet Café Timeline
 1994: Café Cyberia, London
 1995: Suba, Chicago & Milky Way, Joburg
 1998: Iran, segregated
 2000: Irbid, Jordan, 130 on a single street
 2004: 20,000 in 171 countries
Taiwan
 2001: 700 Internet Cafes
 2002: 4,000 due to boom in PC Games
 Value R2.5 billion!!
India
 50,000 Internet Cafes
 Satyam Infoway set-up 2,000 cybercafés
across 67 cities in 3 years
 Half-million users a month
South Africa
 135 Internet Cafes (NETucation)
 18 Citizen’s Post Offices (240 sites)
 600 PiT
 32 Digital Villages (Microsoft)
 196 Telecentres
Provincial Breakdown
80
69 Eastern Cape
70
Free State
60
Gauteng
50
KwaZulu-Natal
40
30 Limpopo
30
Mpumalanga
20 13
9 North West
10 5 3
1 2 2 Northern Cape
0 Western Cape
Internet Cafés
Franchises & Branches
 Odyssey Internet Café (10)
 3@1 Communications (19)
 Jetline (10)
Pricing Models
 Average Hourly Rate = R27
 Lowest = R6 per hour
 Highest = R75 per hour
Computers & other Peripherals
 Average = 9
 Lowest is 1 or 2
 Highest is 29 (including laptops)
 Printers = 1.7
 Scanners = 1.3
Operating Hours
 Average = 12
 6% operate 24x7
 44% closed on Sundays
Bandwidth Access Method

18%
 ADSL ADSL
MyWireless
 MyWireless 12% ISDN 64K
ISDN 128K
59%
 Diginet 4% Diginet
4% Unknown
 ISDN 3%
The Future?
 Wi-Fi Hotspots
 Cheaper Internet access
 Support from ISPA, et al.
Thank You
 Contact Details:
 Ramon Thomas
 ramon@netucation.co.za
 082-940-7137