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A Staff Writer in Bombay

The dhaba, the poor man's roadside inn, will acquire an avatar when the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited launches its 'cyber dhaba' initiative in Bombay and New Delhi soon.

The cyber dhaba is a dirt cheap, frills-free version of the plush cyber cafés that exist only beyond the lobbies of luxury hotels.

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The dhabas are expected to help people without the resources to buy a computer or an Internet account. It would be the cheapest option to explore the online world.

MTNL Chairman and Managing Director S Rajagopalan explains that to begin with the dhabas would be put up at their several office in both the cities. But they expect small entrepreneurs to pick up the idea and at the best hope for a situation where Internet kiosks become as ubiquitous as the telephone booth.

Rajagopalan was inaugurating the SCO pavilion and a pilot cyber dhaba at the CNI '98 Exhibition in Bombay. SCO, the Unix server operating system provider, is an enabling partner in the cyber dhaba project.

MTNL is the government owned monopoly that provides basic telephony services in New Delhi and Bombay. But with the privatisation of the sector, it would have to face competition from private players. MTNL is also preparing to enter the cellular telephony and Internet access businesses.

When Rajagopalan was asked if the cyber café initiative was a way to whet the public appetite for the Internet before launching its ISP business, he said "No. This is not a profit-oriented venture. I would gladly lose money on this. It is only MTNL's way to encourage the Internet in the country."

He claimed that the investment in the dhabas is so low that it is not worth mentioning.

"The cyber dhaba," Rajagopalan explained "is based on the concept of a public Internet service facility targeted at the walk-in customer, run by entrepreneurs with complete business centre facilities of communications like fax, smart public call office, email, video-conferencing, cyber shopping etc. And all this for a reasonable fee."

SCO Regional Director Raja told reporters that "The cyber dhaba is an innovative concept that draws on technology to provide cheaper means of communication and information to the people who cannot afford to put up the infrastructure on their own. Students, entrepreneurs, small and start-up businesses, professionals, research scholars and tourists can greatly benefit from it."

About 20 dhabas would be set up in Bombay and New Delhi as a part of a pilot project. If these are successful, a special financial package would be worked out to make the scheme attractive for franchisees.

MTNL has also announced a special community service for selected schools in Bombay and New Delhi. The Cyber School Connections scheme involves hooking up the institutions to an ISDN line for free.

ISDN is a technology that allows Internet access at speeds significantly faster than a regular telephone line.

MTNL recently introduced the ISDN services in Bombay and New Delhi.

Rajagopalan said, "It is important for the service providers to keep the larger picture in mind and contribute in their own way to the society. Providing free ISDN to selected schools is our humble contribution for the cause of taking tomorrow's generation to the information age."

MTNL is planning to approach other technology companies, including software companies to contribute to the cause.

Raja has already announce that "SCO is pleased to offer MTNL its software licence free for being given along with the ISDN connections to the schools. We would like to encourage all such endeavours that promote it at a grassroots level on a non-commercial basis."

UNI

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