Even as the expanding broadband reach and increasing competition among telcos are inducing more

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and more individuals to subscribe affordable internet connections in their homes, it has forced independent internet café owners to evaluate their approach to business.

They are no longer content with their laid back attitude, where they waited for customers to walk-in and then charge them on an hourly basis. Café owners in Tamil Nadu have come together to mull over ways to tap new business opportunities and expand revenue streams.

“We can no longer afford to wait for the customers to walk in. With an increasing number of people opting to have an internet connection at home, we have seen the walk in traffic reduce by almost 50 per cent on an average over the past five years,” said P Murugan, secretary of the recently formed Tamil Nadu Internet Centre Owners Association (TNICOA).

Having himself started off as a DTP (desk top publishing) operator in the early 90s, he soon latched on to then emerging business of internet cafés. But, his biggest worry today is not to allow this business to suffer the way the STD/ISD booth operators did.

Though the association was formed primarily to deal with the licensing issue and lack of clarity on several other fronts with the police authorities, the members soon discovered that the body could be effectively used to spot and expand business opportunities. “Out of the 3,000 odd centers across Tamil Nadu, with about 1,300 in Chennai city, 600 plus centers have already become our members realising the value we can collectively build,” he said.

The association is for small-time independent internet centers and does not include the high-end Reliance Web World or those established by Sify on a franchisee basis. The association is on the verge of tying up with Consign for becoming franchisee partners for its on-line matrimonial service, Bharatmatrimony.com.

“Online ticketing for bus, railways and airlines, as well as online education services are the other key areas, we will soon expand into. We have already tied up with Chennai-based Edserve for online computer courses,” Murugan said, while adding the plan with Edserve will include facilitating online tuitions for engineering students.

"The association will bring in a change on the perception of the general public about the internet centres. With retail segment growing in India, products have to find a place in the internet cafés too to have a mind recall to reach their target audience," K Purushothaman, regional director - Tamil Nadu & Kerala, Nasscom told Financial Chronicle.

According to Murugan, about a couple of years ago, internet-telephony took off in a major way and served as a reasonable revenue segment. “But, it is no longer popular, as such people prefer to do the same from the privacy of their homes, even if it means at higher cost,” he added.

Soon to be added services will include share trading franchisees, as well as multi-commodity exchange trading services. “We are working on ways to connect with various service providers, so that they need not re-invent the wheel,” Murugan said.