adminACCRA. – Numerous challenges including poor internet connectivity, virus infections and hardware problems have beset Ghana’s Public Internet Access Venues.
This is according to a new report the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute of the Council of Scientific and Industrial released. The research also identified lack of easy access and special services for physically challenged persons at most PAVs.
It formed part of the Global Impact Study on Access to Public ICT for five countries namely Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Ghana and Philippines. The study carried out in Greater Accra, Ashanti and Western regions, noted that majority of the PAVs had small physical structures with little or no rest places for those in queues.
“The small structures normally resulted in overcrowding, which made the venues very hot during the day and also noisy for serious users. The situation is aggravated by lack of air-conditioners to reduce the heat in the internet cafes,” the searchers noted.
Lead researcher Dr Godfred Frimpong, and his team, Paul Boadu and Masahudu Fuseini, said such facilities were privately owned and limited to between six and 15 computers.
The team indicated that the major source of finance for PAVs was ploughing back of profits or service fees, which had negative effect on the scale of expansion activities since such source of funding had its limitations.
They recommended that to ensure effective development of PAVs, the National Communication Authority should explore the possibility of introducing some form of regulatory intervention into the internet market which presently was unregulated. – CAJ News.
Online Reporter