31 March – 03 April 2009, Matabungkay Beach Resort & Hotel, Lian, Batangas

Reaching Out to More People through the Icafes

Gener Luis MoradaPresident, Internet Cafe Association of Imus, Inc

Country Representative, G.ho.st Virtual Computer

Introduction

• Gener Luis Morada• President of the Internet Cafe

Association of Imus, Inc• Country Representative – G.ho.st

Virtual Computer of Israel• Member, Unified Lanshop Owners

of the Philippines (ULOP.net)• Member of the Computers

Professional Union• Open Source Advocate.

First Encounter with Eskwela

• Learned about the program from Mr. Garrie David and Mr John Macasio

• After a series of email I was able to get in touch with Mam Mel Tan and had a meeting with her at the Cavite State University Indang Campus

• And the first question was “Why deploy Eskwela in the Internet Cafes?

Reasons why to deploy Eskwela in Icafes

1. We have the Technology – internet cafes have the best IT technology possible.

•The CPUs and software are usually updated to cope with the industry standards.

On the average icafes must change their computer systems every two years to keep up with the latest developments in the internet and gaming industry

We have a well maintained system to fit into our operations.

One can set up an Icafe with 15 computer units plus peripherals at only Php300,000.00 but it is the cost of maintenance and utilities that is much more expensive.

Icafes usually operate 24/7

Icafes are usually owned by people with an IT background and are usually updated with the latest innovations in information technology.

Icafe owners are encourage to learn the ways of maintaining their computer units to cut down on cost.

2. Icafes have the reach and the customers.

• On the average there are 300 or more internet cafes in every municipality or city around the country or about two in every barangay.

• An average internet cafe will have on the average about ten computer units

• Basically there are about 3000 units that are available at any given time.

• Peak operating hours is between 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm on weekdays and from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on weekends.

• Basically icafes are operating at about 60% of their given capacity at any given time.

Yahoo/Nielsen Internet Usage Survey

• More and more Filipinos from the lower income sectors in urban Philippines are using the Internet as cheaper broadband and lower-priced computers drive down costs of accessing the Web

• showed that 85 percent of all online users from total urban Philippines are from the Class D and E socioeconomic class while the rest are from Class ABC.

• Internet cafes have become an important access point for Filipino Internet users with 71 percent of the country’s estimated 20 million Internet population saying they have accessed the Internet through e-cafes in the past three months

• “Internet cafes have become the great equalizer for all social classes in accessing the Internet. Forty-seven percent of all Internet time by Filipino Internet users are spent in Internet cafes. It’s the only medium that allows you to communicate and do research and even entertains you for 10 to 15 pesos an hour

• Eighty-one percent of Internet users from Class CDE said they are regular Internet café users compared to 21 percent from Class ABC1 and 27 percent from Class

C2.

• The survey also revealed that the younger generation have become early adopters of the Internet. At least 49 percent of Internet users in the Philippines are ages 10-19 while 32 percent are ages 20-29.

• Breakdown of users Past Month Internet Access

• 10-19 years 50 percent

• 20-29 years 41 percent

• 30-39 19 percent

• 40-49 12 percent

• 50+ 3 percent

3. We have the Organization and the Network

Internet Cafe Organizations

Local and Foreign Companies

Government Agencies

NGOs

Educational Institutions

5

4. We are so Affordable

• Php20.00 per hour multiplied by the number of required hours of 300 so each learner would only cost P6000.00 to complete the course.

• In some cases internet cafes could be charging Php15.00 per hour thus reducing cost to Php4,500.00

• This is as opposed to investing in a learning center which would entail an initial investment of Php300,000.00 and an expense of an average of around Php85,000 per month not including the cost of maintenance and computer upgrades.

Problem Encountered

• Project Sustainability

• Internet cafes are business oriented enterprises that needs financing to recover investments and cost.

• The present Eskwela model does not allow the Icafes to charge the learners to cover the cost of their use of the computer system.

• Outside Financing coming from donations from politicians and other socio civic organizations.

• Primary concern was the use of the Eskwela as a political tool by the politicians. Sustainability is depended on the term of office of the elected officials.

• There were some reluctance on the part os some some socio civic organizations to tie up with the icafes due to the impression of the icafes as a social hazard.

Icafe Business Model for Eskwela

• Project sustainability is depended on the capacity to support the computer network established

• According to the Yahoo and Nielsen survey even those belonging to the lower economic bracket are using the internet cafes to access the internet

• Thus it would show that they have the capacity to pay for the computer access.

• Not all learners does not have the capacity to pay but there are learners who are paying private educational institutions just to finish their primary education.

• The Eskwela would follow the Online gaming model in which the module itself would be free and what the learners would be paying for is the use of the computer network not for the use of the modules.

• This would ensure that support and easy access of the learner to the program

• Another option is to get Eskwela on line and let advertising pay for its sustainability by informing participants to click on the advertising that comes out of the web pages.

• By uploading the Eskwela module in professional data centers in the internet cloud then proponents could concentrate more on the content rather than on the hardware components of the program.

End of Presentation

email address: gener62166@g.ho.sticaii.gener@gmail.com

URL:http://g.ho.st