Mobile phones edge out internet cafes

MOBILE

By Gregory Gondwe, Lilongwe, Malawi

Smart mobile phones are slowly edging out internet cafés in Malawi, says a new report.

Some internet café operators are acknowledging a slump in business, since customers can now easily access internet services on their mobile phones.

The Sunday Times newspaper said its research, mainly in the city of Blantyre, found that  advancements in mobile phone technologies have negatively affected customer volumes at internet cafes.

Godfrey Malembo, managing director for Front Line Business Centre, told the newspaper that users who used to frequent internet cafes were youths interested in social media, but they are now increasingly using mobile phones with internet facilities.

“The youth used to form a significant component of internet patrons, and attributed this to their youthful zeal for new things,” observed Malembo.

He said most youths are buying high-tech mobile phones because they want to appear to be ahead of the game in terms of living up to modern trends and fashion.

Malembo told Sunday Times that patronage to internet cafes is now down from 100 percent to something like 80 percent.

Malembo seems to suggest that despite the rush for mobile phones over internet cafes, the computers in such internet bureaus are way ahead in terms of customer care.

“While mobile technologies fail to value the power of human contact, cafes still offer this advantage,” argued Malembo.

According to BuddeComm, an online telecommunications research site, Malawi has seen a boom in mobile phone usage.

Malawi's mobile penetration rate is at the moment at 24% with fixed telephone penetration rate at 1%, while internet penetration is at 9%.

At least two more internet café managers, one for Telecoms Limited and the other one for government owned Post Corporations Limited insisted that internet cafés have far more advantages than mobile phone internet.

An ICT expert, Tobias Kumwenda, chose to differ with this. He argued that mobile phones offer advantages in terms of costs and accessibility.

“One can use a mobile handset anytime and anywhere, as opposed to internet cafes because most of them are closed from 6 pm. It is also cheaper to use a mobile handset than internet cafés because most of them charge a minimum of K5 per minute,” said Kumwenda.