- Title: NIGERIA: Internet cafe a dying business as internet access expands
- Date: 11th June 2014
- Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) STREET SCENE EXTERIOR OF A CYBERCAFE SIGN READING: "COLE TECHNOLOGIES LTD" VARIOUS OF UNUSED COMPUTERS DUSTY KEYBOARD VARIOUS OF A CYBERCAFE OWNER, FUNMILAYO BANKOLE, PHOTOCOPYING DOCUMENTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CYBERCAFE OWNER, FUNMILAYO BANKOLE, SAYING: "That business is okay, it boomed, moving than when cyber cafe is you know everybody now they have blackberry, nothing, if they send something to your email you will quickly see it on your phone, so then nothing like cybercafe nothing nothing, people will come, anything that they want to do... then they were using fax machine, we have our fax machine, so they are using fax machine, anything that you want to send, you need to type it before you fax it so then is better than now." VARIOUS EXTERIOR OF RESTAURANT SIGN READING: "RESTAURANT NOW OPEN, FREE WIFI" VARIOUS OF A HOTSPOT LOCATION SIGN READING: "UNLIMITED UPLOAD & DOWNLOAD HERE" VARIOUS OF MAN USING HIS PHONE SCREEN SHOT OF PHONE VARIOUS OF MAN WORKING ON LAPTOP VARIOUS OF WANDE ADALEMO, FOUNDER, OXYGEN BROADBAND NETWORK, TALKING TO COLLEAGUE (SOUNDBITE) (English) WANDE ADALEMO, FOUNDER, OXYGEN BROADBAND NETWORK, SAYING: "Worldwide there is a 24 hour life that em... and people are constantly on the move, we have the impatient generation here, things should happen now and it should happen fast, and it should happen not in my home, it should happen away from home where my peers are, where my culture group is, where my interest group are, so this has fuelled that mobile community, the mobile generation that are on the move, they want to communicate and connect and be productive as well. That has fuelled it and that has led to the decline in cybercafe as we know it because if I can do a lot of things on the move, I don't need to sit down in a place to do it." VARIOUS OF GBOYEGA AYODELE, RADIO PRESENTER, WORKING ON HIS LAPTOP IN A RESTAURANT VARIOUS OF LAPTOP SCREEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) GBOYEGA AYODELE, RADIO PRESENTER, SAYING: "Well, it's essential, I mean connectivity is part of life now and because I do a lot online, so it's essential for me. We have music sold online so we must keep in touch I also do a lot of social media work, so it's essential and oxygen is doing fine." (SOUNDBITE) (English) WANDE ADALEMO, FOUNDER, OXYGEN BROADBAND NETWORK, SAYING: "Oxygen is ahead of that curve in Nigeria as against what we see in China, in the UK. In UK as an example, BTE has 4.8 million hotspots. FREE in France has 5 million hotspots. In China they plan to do about 13 million hotspots, so worldwide there is that growing demand for let's put hotspots in place so we can have access where ever we go. We don't think Nigeria will be different so that is why we are playing in that space now." VARIOUS OF MASTS STREET SCENE
- Embargoed: 26th June 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Business,Industry
- Reuters ID: LVA1ZVDF5GN831EB2PCJXTW50OEK
- Story Text: At a busy junction in Lagos, a once popular internet cafe is open for business but struggling to make sales.
Cole Technologies Ltd, which started 13 years ago once offered many Nigerians their first experience with the internet.
Internet cafe like these were a lucrative business and a huge source of income for millions over a period of about 20 years.
Funmilayo Bankole is the owner of Cole Technologies; she says she gets less than 10 customers a day, mostly coming in to type, photocopy and print documents.
"That business is okay, it boomed, moving than when cyber cafe is you know everybody now they have blackberry, nothing, if they send something to your email you will quickly see it on your phone, so then nothing like cybercafe nothing nothing, people will come, anything that they want to do... then they were using fax machine, we have our fax machine, so they are using fax machine, anything that you want to send, you need to type it before you fax it so then is better than now," said Bankole.
Cyber cafe have lost the battle to internet networked phones, handy modems and Wi-Fi access.
Nigerian company Oxygen Broadband Networks, provides internet services and has partnered with restaurants, stadiums, cinemas, outdoor bars and event centres to deliver high speed Wi-Fi services.
"Worldwide there is a 24 hour life that em... and people are constantly on the move, we have the impatient generation here, things should happen now and it should happen fast, and it should happen not in my home, it should happen away from home where my peers are, where my culture group is, where my interest group are, so this has fuelled that mobile community, the mobile generation that are on the move, they want to communicate and connect and be productive as well. That has fuelled it and that has led to the decline in cybercafe as we know it because if I can do a lot of things on the move, I don't need to sit down in a place to do it," said Wande Adalemo, founder and Chief Operating Officer of Oxygen Broadband Networks.
The company has invested 3 million dollars in the project and plans to expand further.
It has 27,000 registered users across 50 hotspots, all integrated to allow seamless connectivity for customers whenever they change location.
Users pay about 3 dollars for daily unlimited access across any of the hotspots.
"Well, it's essential, I mean connectivity is part of life now and because I do a lot online, so it's essential for me. We have music sold online so we must keep in touch I also do a lot of social media work, so it's essential and oxygen is doing fine," said Gboyega Ayodele, a Radio Presenter in Lagos.
Adalemo says the number of users on the Wi-Fi platform explains the huge need to expand services in the oil rich country.
He plans to have 1,000 hotspots in Lagos before moving to other parts of Nigeria.
"Oxygen is ahead of that curve in Nigeria as against what we see in China, in the UK. In UK as an example, BTE has 4.8 million hotspots. FREE in France has 5 million hotspots. In China they plan to do about 13 million hotspots, so worldwide there is that growing demand for let's put hotspots in place so we can have access where ever we go. We don't think Nigeria will be different so that is why we are playing in that space now," said Adalemo.
Nigeria with a population of 170 million is the fastest growing internet and mobile phone market in Africa. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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