[ Johannesburg, 10 April 2008 ] - The ability of low-income people to access e-mail through their mobile phones will not hurt the growth of SA's Internet café market, says mobile phone giant Nokia.

World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck notes that access to e-mail through a mobile phone reduces the time and money users spend to go to an Internet cafe.However, it does not replace the need to go to an Internet cafe to access broader Internet services, he says. SA still has a need for Internet cafes, especially in townships and rural areas, he adds.

Goldstuck  also says that  Internet cafes face big financial challenges as owners' business margins are low, yet the best local locations are expensive.

“All of them were subject to monitoring and some websites were blocked,” he added.

Today these restrictions are gone and Iraqis in their millions are using the Internet for chatting, doing research, dating, keeping abreast of current affairs and to access social networking sites such as Facebook and Hi5. 

Cybercafe owner Ali said most of those using his 16 PCs were young people aged between 17 and 35.

“They mostly use Yahoo Messenger for chatting or checking their e-mails but some download antivirus updates or do research for their studies.

“Our peak hours are from 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm, but the cafe is open until 10:00 pm,” said Ali.

Read more at The Times