The Decline Of Cyber-Cafe’s In India?
Considered to be the largest source of Internet access in India, cyber cafes, which were growing at almost 60% in 2004 and 2005, have fallen to almost 20% in 2008.
According to a CII-IMRB report, the rate of growth in cyber cafes was at its peak in the country at about 85% in 2002. Though it was largely attributable to a small base of about 50,000 cafes in 2003, the growth was still hovering around 60% till 2004. The cyber cafe industry grew at about 57% in 2004. But by 2006 the growth fell to about 20% and it has till now failed to pick up steam Today the number of cyber cafes stands at 1,80,000 across the country.
According to another report by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India), out of the 46 million web users, cyber cafes emerge as the largest access point for internet access at 36% followed by home (30%) and office (25%).
Given the decreasing cost of both bandwidth and computers, I would have expected the cybercafe population to decline, though Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI), president Rajesh Charria thinks otherwise, “The decline in growth has been due to the extra-strict laws of maintaining a log of all sites visited by a customer alongwith a copy of his or her id proof.” [Via]
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Filed under: Business, India, Statistics