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Prepaid cards invade IT cafes
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Internet cafes are mushrooming in the city. The latest temptation to lure in customers is the prepaid card, points out R KABEER
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Next time when you go to an internet cafe for browsing, don't worry about the ticking meter, for pre-paid cards are here to stay.
Pre-paid cards and internet? Yes, netizens' favouite attraction in some big cities of India is making waves in this metro for some time and it has become an instant hit with the browsing community also.
Pre-paid cards are not new to Kochiites. The cell phone companies introduced those some years back. Then came the petro card by oil companies. Recently, the BSNL followed its digital counterparts with the introduction of virtual calling cards. And it's the turn of internet cafes now.
Satyam I way, a chain of internet browsing centers from Satyam Infoway, was the pioneer in internet pre-paid cards in Kochi. They introduced this novel idea to the city in December last year. And Spectrum software, an internet service provider based in the U.S and operating in the city from Palarivattom, followed suit.
Currently these are the two providers of internet pre-paid cards in Kochi. These cards bring a lot of features that are appealing to the browsers' community.
The first among these is: the cardholder pays only for the time he browses. I.e. no flat rates. In some cafes the user will have to shell out certain minimum amount even if he uses the net only for some minutes. That story ends here. You pay as much as you browse.
This feature attracts many people towards the cards. Says Ramachandran of Edappally, who throngs internet cafes every week, ''Earlier I usually visited many cafes around the city. Now I stick on to Satyam I way. I can surf in any of their cafes. The pre- paid card makes me familiar with the people at any of them. And it makes me more comfortable while surfing.''
Being a budding whole sale businessman of electronic components, he depends on the internet very much for communication. ''It is really a boon for people like me. It enables you to surf the internet even when you are in any other state.''
Mr.Shyam, cafe administrator in one of the Satyam I way outlets echoes it. ''Many people from other states visit our cafe regularly. Even foreigners come here with cards purchased from other states.''
These cards come in denominations starting from Rs.50 to Rs.250. For both Satyam and Spectrum, the pack contains a pin mailer to enable a newcomer to become a member. The member can choose his own login ID and password. Usually, the card's validity is for one month. But don't worry if the validity expires without fully using the card. You can renew the card and carry forward the balance amount to the new card.
The value in the account diminishes, based on the timeslot and duration of usage. As long as there is value in account, the member can browse.
For the cardholders the balance value in their account is always available online. It is shown as soon as one logs in. During the browsing session also, one can check his account by clicking the appropriate icon in the task bar.
The importance of this system is that, it benefits both the party- the user and the provider. For the user, he can browse the net at a reduced rate, which is exclusive for the cardholders. In return the provider is assured of retaining the customer. In such a scenario, it is advantage Satyam, because it has 17 cafes spread across the city. And another 600 in cities like New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad.
They are planning to set up 80 centers in Kerala within the next six months. A member can browse anywhere in these cafes with the same card. They call it roaming facility. A spokesman from Spectrum said they are planning more outlets around the city.
Some followers have more advanced ideas.
Since it makes browsing simpler, some users like Ravi chandran of Kaloor nurse an idea of buying the facility for home pcs. Spectrum says they are providing it now. Mr.Riyas, System administrator of Satyam I way indicated they may introduce this facility in future.
But all are not happy. James of Palarivattom who spends around 14 hours every month for browsing, says pre-paid cards brought him nothing but headache. It is the sophistication, which played the villain in his case. ''If we misspell the login ID or the password five times, the account will crash. We may lose money. Even without misspelling my password the system showed my password was incorrect. I lost Rs.35 out of Rs.50.''
He is planning to buy another card. ''Pre-paid card system is good. But the user should not lose money.''
There are different timeslots like non-peak, peak and normal. Rates vary according to the timeslot. Considering this, a non-cardholder with the same usage of the net in these cafes is a loser.
Incidentally, it is interesting to note that, Asianet dataline cybermall, arguably the biggest single cafe in the city, is not providing pre-paid facility to its customers. They have a membership package. For the members they are providing reduced rates for browsing. Others have to pay a premium.
In the wake of competition like this, others like Dishnet DSL hub at convent junction were providing special packages for customers. At DDSL there was a valentine offer valid up to 28th February- browse for an hour for Rs.3. The idea goes like this- when you spend Rs.30 to browse for an hour, you get a bottle of Coke worth Rs.7 and a bumper car ride worth Rs.20 at the Megabowl. That means, you spend only Rs.3 for an hour!
With around 300 cafes, the net cafe business in the city is competitive.
Most of them are concentrated at the convent junction where the guys and gals of the city assemble. One of the franchisee of Satyam I way says that, they have around 100 visitors everyday.
Once the international optical fibre cable project is over, there may be a spurt in the business because there would be high-speed connectivity.
But there may be problems for small cafes to exist. Since the big cafes are providing lot of amenities like ISDN connectivity, faster downloads, free e-mail I Ds and even air-conditioned comforts, they will have to spend a lot to withstand the competition or perish. They may also have two options to choose from - give way to smarter ones or change their banner to become franchisee of any of them.
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