Entrepreneurship
Internet Cafés: Creating a Communication Gateway for the Unconnected

In Tanzania, local entrepreneurs in three communities – Dar-es-Salaam, Dodoma and Arusha – were presented a new business prospect and a much needed resource: access to high-speed wireless Internet connectivity. With 36 percent of the country’s population living under the poverty line,¹ this new business idea was readily adopted. Internet cafés in these three cities are now connected to a mobile broadband network, enabling locals to gain high-speed access to the vast repository of information and multimedia services found on the Internet.

Impact

• Stemming from the success of the initial pilot, Vodacom has expanded the project to include two additional Internet cafés with 30 computers in Tanzania’s University of Dodoma and ten additional Internet cafés throughout Tanzania.
• The sites chosen are diverse, which helps project partners ensure the business model is successful across several landscapes. There is positive consensus among the Internet café owners that the strength of their business is the high-speed wireless Internet connectivity on Vodacom’s HSPA network.