Smartphones killing cybercafe business – Operators

Cybercafe operators in Abuja have complained that since the advent of smart phones, the level of patronage has reduced drastically. The operators said that the use of smart phones by majority of the populace had negatively affected patronage resulting to many closing shop.

A cybercafe operator, Mr Hector Ajero in Area 10 Shopping Complex, Abuja said that since smart phones entered the market “business is no longer the way it used to be”. He said that before the advent of smart phones, business was a lot better and interesting “unlike now that everyone has the facility to access the internet conveniently’’. He said, “Before, when there were no smart phones, business was a lot better, now business is really going down.”

He said that what many customers now come to cybercafes to do was just to print and sometimes type documents. He said, “But we spend money to buy fuel to carry out these services because of poor electricity and this has been affecting our businesses negatively. “These days people do their jobs with their phones, save it on their flash drives then come to print, unlike before when they come to do their entire internet work and printing here.”

Mr Christian Okpara, another cybercafe operator said, “the business is really tough now as sales are no more like there were.” He said, “People no longer come for our internet services, we recharge the internet just for recharging sake because people rarely come to browse.

For Mrs Faith Deke, another cybercafe operator, the competition between cybercafes was high now because people do their works on their phones.

She said that her challenge was the charging rate by telecommunications operators, adding that “the good thing is the rollover process that has been put in place to help internet users’’.

She said, “There is a lot of competition; we are just trying to get by because most people do their work on their phones. “Charging rates are high compared to before but the good thing now is that there is rollover unlike before when there was no such thing.

“Roll over is a process whereby the unfinished data balance is transferred to the next month when another data is purchased.”

She therefore appealed to the government to put in more efforts in making sure that they improved on electricity, saying “that is one major tool for running our business. When there is constant supply of electricity, the business will move well,’’ she said.