Experience with services, usage and the problems, issues and achievements of telecentres are review in this article, with a particular focus on developing countries and emerging markets.
Evaluation of telecentres in developing countries, especially in terms of socio-economic impact assessment, is scant so far. This can be attributed to the very early stages of most of the projects. However, evaluation frameworks and methodologies are emerging (see Gómez and Hunt 1999).
Evidence of performance in developing countries is also still very limited. It must be borne in mind that cases vary according to the nature of the location, the year of development and the regulatory environment, among other factors. Thus, generalizations can be made only cautiously at this stage. Nevertheless it is possible to observe key trends.
Services and usage
Services provided by telecentres vary according to the degree of development of the country. For example, a summary published by the ITU on MCTs in Ireland indicates that 50% or more of the centres offered access to computers and the Internet, word processing, photocopying, desktop publishing and computer and Internet training (Ernberg 1998). More than 20% offered some Web site development. Telecentres in Ireland are clearly geared towards assisting small business development and providing higher-end information technology equipment. Access to basic telecommunications is not the main objective.
In contrast, centres in developing countries virtually all have basic telecom and office equipment for public use, which represents the primary demand. A recent study (Roman 2000) of eight telecentres established by the Universal Service Agency in South Africa shows that the strongest demand and usage is for the following basic services:
- phone calls and faxes
- photocopying
- printing
- typing services
- bookkeeping for micro-businesses
There is also considerable demand for ICT training which is seen as increasing employment opportunities. However, many telecentres are not yet able to cater effectively to this market. For example, because they do not provide certificated programmes, the courses are of limited use for people looking for employment.
Telecentres need to provide services beyond basic access to telecom and office equipment, which can be (and mostly is) better provided by simpler phone shops. Evidence for this is the increasing number of PCO-type operations in emerging markets and developing countries.
Although telecentres are praised as a crucial development tool and have considerable potential, the data available on rural demand and usage of the Internet in such centres suggest that this is not sufficiently realised. A survey of telecentres supported by the Universal Service Agency (USA) in South Africa found that personal computers and the Internet were severely underutilised (Khumalo 1998). The reasons are thought to be:
- illiteracy in general and computer illiteracy in particular;
- language problems resulting from the fact that the Internet is mostly in English though there are many local languages;
- lack of awareness and culture about the use and benefits of ICT;
- the high cost of Internet connection through long-distance calls due to lack of local points-of-presence (POPs); and
- poor quality telecom connections.
It would also appear that computer training has increased Internet and personal computer usage in South African telecentres only minimally
nice article nikesh.
Thank you very much archana