PMM to host Cyber Cafe expo ’09

The stage is now set for the second edition of the annual Cyber Café expo slated for Lagos, next month, according to the organizers, the Private Media Mart Limited (PMML).

Making this known in Lagos, the Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer, PMML, Mr. Ejiofor Agada, said the event has been scheduled to hold on Monday, August 10, 2009, with the theme: Scarcity Versus Cost – Tackling the Broadband Challenges, at K & G Events Centre, Oregun – Ikeja in Lagos.

He noted that the concept of the expo was in a bid to identify the problems faced by cyber café operators and the reasons behind the high mortality rate of that sub-sector of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry in the country.

“So as to help in identifying their challenges, we strive to inform them on what they are doing wrong, how to do it right and the best way to run a cyber café business,” he said.

The event, he also said, creates an avenue for cyber café operators and potential investors to follow the progress of the workshop with a perfect plan on how to start and sustain cyber café business in Nigeria.

Mr. Agada explained that the Internet is still one of the fastest and cost-effective means of interpersonal and corporate communications in the world and the ability to successfully sustain a cyber café business today has its own tribulations.

He identified the issues of hardware, software, networking, security, bandwidth, power supply and the law as the major challenges facing cyber operators today in the country, pointing out that the issue of fraudulent practices by some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the provision of bandwidth capacities to cyber operators is another phase of the challenge.

“It is to this end that this edition of the event will be showcasing select Internet Broadband service providers in the country with repute and verifiable, honest business practices,” Agada said.

He explained that broadband is expensive for Nigerians due to the undeveloped infrastructures when compared with other countries of the world, urging the government to improve on broadband availability through the provision of enabling policies that would make the services affordable for Nigerians.

“The government should make the market better. The business of providing broadband services in Nigeria is not well indicated at all. Government gives so much attention to telecommunications, the end users of bandwidth utilization more than the providers of bandwidth,” he urged.

The first edition of the workshop focused on hardware and software challenges of cyber café business in Nigeria with participation from Omatek, Beta Computers, Wazobia Linux, Amsco, Jidaw, and Microsoft. 

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