Cyber cafes on their way out?

CHENNAI: The writing is on the wall. A large number of small cyber cafes are bound to disappear from the city soon. With common masses now being able to access advanced technology at affordable prices, cyber cafés just seem to have lost the edge that they had all these years.In the last year alone, around 250 cyber cafes have closed shop and more are on their way to downing their shutters. In fact, the situation is so bleak that Tamil Nadu Internet Cafe Owners Association (TNICOA) Secretary Murugan  fears that a vast majority of such cafes may disappear within the next couple of years.“In 2008, there were around 3,000 small cafes. In 2009, that came down considerably. Only about 2,000 cafes were able to hold out. Last year, another 250 cafes wound up business. At this rate, in another two years, not many will be left,” he laments.Over a decade ago, almost everyone visited a cyber cafe to use the internet. “After mobiles became popular, a large section of our clientele, who would earlier come to cyber cafés to chat with friends, switched to sending SMSes. Only those who intended to use the internet for business or official purposes started trickling in to check emails,” he avers.Thanks to the advent of 3G in mobiles, that  took a hit. “Now, by and large, people come in only if they have to take print outs,” he adds.To add to their woes is the recent IT (Guidelines for Cyber Café) Rules, 2011, which insist that customers must furnish proper identification proof, a copy of which must be stored by cyber café owners for a year.“We lose another 20 per cent of our customers because of this rule. We can provide service to customers only if they provide ID proof. Customers get irritated and walk off in a huff,” he says.He is promptly supported by Mahesh, a cyber café owner, who is on the verge of shutting down his business. “The cost involved in setting up a CCTV camera to monitor everybody who comes into the café and the time and effort required to save and provide the data (both hardware and software) to the cops on a monthly basis make the life of a cyber café owner difficult,” he explains.Also, customers often question the owners about safety. “They want to know that their IDs will not be misused. However, we are helpless in this regard as the rules are very clear,” says Rakesh.Murugan adds, “Earlier, when results of examinations were announced, we would have around 300 to 350 students visiting us. Now, the number has come down to just 50. With computers and internet connections costing less now, middle class families are opting for their own systems. This, in turn, means fewer customers for us.”While the above mentioned problems are caused by extraneous factors, the cyber cafe owners have only themselves to blame for one problem – competition. Says Murugan, “People, especially unemployed youth, have this wrong perception that this is a lucrative business. So, the moment they getsome funds, they start a cyber cafe,” he says and adds that the lure stays for just six months.They wind up business, as they realise that it is not viable to run a cyber café under the present circumstances “But during that period, in a bid to gain more customers and survive, they lower their rates, often charging as low as Rs 10 for an hour of surfing. This indirectly affects the industry itself as customers flock these cyber cafes, leaving those others that charge nominal rates. It looks tough from here on and we are hoping for divine intervention,” he adds.