Internet cafes in Ghana: Economic Benefits and Social Costs'

1
Internet cafes in Ghana Economic Benefits and
Social Costs.

• Edward Opoku-Dapaah
• Professor of Sociology
• Winston-Salem State University
• NC, USA

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Introduction

• This paper analyzes internet cafes as commercial
  operations and also as emerging cultural forms
  and locales for social interaction by Ghanaians.
• The internet cafes are small scale private
  operations that retail basic internet access.
  They mushroomed in Ghanaian cities from the
  mid-1990s as part of the expansion of Ghanas IT
  sector.

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Central Argument

• The paper argues that even though internet cafes
  have generated multiple benefits to Ghanaian
  society including a rise in internet access,
  employment and infrastructural expansion,
  however, like other forms of IT expansion in
  Ghana, the cafes have contributed to the existing
  inequalities among Ghanaians, in which the less
  affluent have the least access to IT and in which
  they experience discrimination as a result of
  their social class.

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• These inequalities include urban bias in the
  distribution of internet cafes and control in the
  hands of Ghanas predominant social class.
• These are social consequences that raise
  questions about the ability of IT to eliminate
  the deep-seated social and economic inequalities
  in Ghana.

5
Research

• Data for the paper comes mainly from my personal
  observations on internet cafes in Ghana since
  1997.
• Data for the paper is also derived from
  interviews with patrons and workers in over 50
  internet cafes that I have visited during
  numerous trips to Ghana.

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• Most of the cafes that I have visited are in
  Accra and Kumasi these cities have the largest
  concentration of internet cafes in Ghana.
• However, I have also made observations and
  conducted interviews in cafes in regional and
  district capitals including Koforidua, Sunyani,
  Obuasi and Nkawkaw.

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Background

• Reliable statistics about internet cafes in Ghana
  are hard to come by, but based on my field
  observations, and anecdotal information obtained
  from my interviews I can estimate that about
  1,000 internet cafes have been established in
  Ghana since the early 1990s.

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• Around 1994, two internet cafes were established
  in the business district of Accra. Since that
  time, internet cafes have become quite common in
  Ghana, springing up mainly in middle class
  neighborhoods, but infrequently in small towns.

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Factors affecting origin

• Internet cafes are the result of the convergence
  of three important factors
• a) Ghanas scarce IT infrastructure,
• b) exorbitant set-up fees for residential
  internet access and,
• c) the presence of a commercial class who had the
  capital to invest in the IT sector.

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• First, shortages of IT hardware and expertise
  have seriously crippled the extension of IT
  infrastructure across Ghana.
• Second, Ghanaians seeking residential internet
  services face high set up fees. It is mainly a
  section of the middle and upper classes along
  with expatriates who can afford the financial
  requirements for residential internet service.

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• Third, IT emerged on the Ghanaian scene at a time
  when the unequal distribution of resources in
  Ghanas weak economy has engendered the rise of a
  commercial class who had the capital to invest in
  the new industry. It is this class who have
  dominated the investment in internet cafes in the
  country.

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Economic Benefits

• Since the expansion of IT in Ghana in the early
  1990s, internet cafes have played an important
  role in the economic and social development of
  the country.
• One important benefit is the degree to which they
  have enhanced instant communication among
  Ghanaians on one hand, and also between Ghanaians
  and people around the globe on the other.

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Widened access to IT

• Prior to the arrival of internet cafes most
  Ghanaians including administrators, law
  enforcement agents, hospital staff, university
  students had never used the internet. Only a
  fraction of Ghanaians were employed in the IT
  sector.
• Subsequent to 1994, internet cafes have widened
  access to IT remarkably by bringing connection to
  the web to city neighborhoods..

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Help to small-businesses

• For small-scale businesses conducting their trade
  down the street or across the country, internet
  cafes have the know-how, and the equipment to
  deliver their IT-related needs.
• Small businesses that depend on internet cafes
  include mechanics, petty traders, caterers,
  artisans, electricians, painters, photographers
  and videographers who often depend on internet
  cafes to conduct transactions with customers.

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• For these people, internet cafes provide low
  cost, economically viable access to IT
  facilities. In so doing, the café has become a
  convenient office for some Ghanaian small-scale
  business operators.

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Youth employment

• Another fundamental economic benefit of internet
  cafes is the remarkable employment opportunities
  that they have generated particularly for
  Ghanaian youth.
• I have observed that the level of employment
  growth varies widely depending on the range of
  services and the nature of transactions handled
  by each internet cafe.

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• On the average, internet cafes employ two workers
  who work on different shifts. Judging from this,
  my estimate is that over 2,000 individuals are
  employed by the internet cafes across Ghana.
• By contrast Ghanas Dept of Labor maintains that
  my estimate is too conservative, they argue that
  my estimate excludes second-round effects on the
  labor force through an increase in employment in
  other sectors of the economy.

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• They cited the examples of the retro-fitting of
  store-fronts for use as internet cafes as sources
  of additional IT related job expansion. The Dept
  of Labor maintains that internet cafes have
  provided between 6,000-7,000 jobs to Ghanaians
  annually since 1995.

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Acquisition of Skills

• Training is an investment that entrepreneurs make
  in their staff. People trained to operate
  internet cafes acquire new skills, they are also
  able to offer new servicesincluding customer
  relations, computer technology, word processing
  and preparation of documentsthat can stimulate
  the local economies.

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Agent of modernization

• Internet cafes have helped modernize Ghanaian
  society in many other respects. They are linked
  to expansion of tele-communications in Ghana.
• Connectivity to the web have linked Ghanaian
  youth in particular to the information revolution
  and globalization.
• In some instances, the entrepreneurs rather than
  the govt have borne the cost of the posts and
  cables that extend the IT link from the closest
  point to city neighborhoods.

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Civic participation

• Moreover, internet cafes have made it possible
  for Ghanaians to increasingly participate in
  interactive radio programs by emailing their
  concerns or desires.
• By facilitating popular participation in the
  discussion of national or local issues, internet
  cafes, have contributed to the institutionalizatio
  n of democracy in Ghana.

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Part of the local culture

• I observed that internet cafes have become part
  of the local culture. They cultivate business
  relationships with local businesses such as
  suppliers of soft drinks, and packaged water.
• Some serves as convenience stores, some co-exist
  with barbers or salons. Others serve as a video
  libraries, or as bookstores. In so doing
  internet cafes have helped businesses to tap into
  new revenue sources.

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Social Costs of Internet cafes

• Another related objective of the paper is the
  social consequences internet cafes and by
  extension access to IT by different classes of
  Ghanaians with respect to who benefits from it
  and who does not.
• Although Ghanaian authorities have pledged that
  citizens would enjoy the benefits of IT equally,
  yet in reality, access to IT apparatus has
  largely favored a small section of Ghanaian
  society, thereby stratifying citizens in their
  relationship to IT.

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The included

• At the top and enjoying more access to the
  internet services are the affluent and urban
  educated segments of Ghanaian society.
• Those targeted for IT services include
  corporate bodies, entrepreneurs, middle income
  earners, students, tourists and foreign business
  officials operating in Ghana.

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• By virtue of their relatively higher academic
  attainments, socialization and resources, such
  individuals are well placed to patronize IT
  services such as web-surfing, emailing, and
  tele-conferencing facilities.

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• Moreover, it is mainly corporate bodies and
  highly educated urbanites with high incomes that
  can patronize these services on a regular basis--
  given the relatively steep user fees involved.
• Hence, unequal access to IT facilities in Ghana
  is not accidental in fact, these operations
  cater largely to the interests and lifestyles of
  a section of Ghanaian societythe urban educated
  middle class.

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• When it comes to the distribution of internet
  cafes considerable stratification exists by area
  of residence in Ghana.
• The majority of the cafes are located in affluent
  sections of Accra and Kumasi (Ahiabenu 2001). A
  clear example in this respect is Dansoman a
  middle class suburb of Accra inhabited by
  approximately a quarter of a million people.

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• As an indication of how the internet cafes has
  kept pace with the demand for services by
  affluent Ghanaians, Dansoman has a relatively
  speaking large concentration of internet cafes.
• Further, Ghana Telecom maintains a sub-station
  here to provide supporting services to IT
  operations. The net result is that within Ghanas
  multi-tier IT sector, the affluent enjoys a
  better quality and a disproportionate share of IT
  facilities.

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The under-served or excluded

• At the bottom, and experiencing limited access to
  internet services, are low-income Ghanaians who
  have limited skills and training, including
  laborers, menial workers, farmers, fishermen and
  the unemployed. James-Town, a low-income suburb
  of Accra, offers a direct contrast to my
  observations at Dansoman.

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• Even though James-Town has about the same number
  of residents as Dansoman, the capacity of the IT
  facilities has not kept pace with the demand for
  services compelling residents to depend on a few
  internet cafes or, in sharp contrast to my
  observations at Dansoman, James-Town residents
  have to go outside their community for internet
  access.

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Urban bias

• Another source of inequality that I have observed
  is the concentration of internet access in urban
  centers. Major Ghanaian cities are connected to
  the IT infrastructure.
• This privilege is obviously influenced by the
  fact that the cities are centers of political and
  economic power. Further, it is likely that the
  economies arising from the agglomeration of
  people and also small businesses have enticed
  internet cafes to the cities.

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• Moreover, all the ISPs in the country operate
  from Accra, hence the internet providers outside
  Accra have to make a trunk call to be connected
  to servers in Accra (Ahiabenu 2001).
• This has given rise to a digital divide in Ghana
  where Accra, and a few regional capitals, enjoy
  varying degrees of internet connectivity, while
  many small towns and rural communities have no
  such access whatsoever (ibid).

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• Small towns are more likely to have outmoded or
  sub-standard equipment.
• Even where internet services are available, small
  towns are victims of relatively poor IT
  infrastructure. The rising demands for IT
  services in Ghana are confronted by severe
  shortages of hardware and trained personnel.
• Authorities have tended to prioritize the needs
  of Accra more than other settlements.

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Patterns of Ownership

• Patterns in the ownership of internet cafes
  provide further evidence of the stratification
  within Ghanas IT industry.
• This is not accidental considering that the
  capital requirement for setting up internet cafes
  is significantly beyond the means of the ordinary
  Ghanaian.
• The initial capital outlay for a café ranged
  between GHC 10,000 15,000 (approximately 6,600
  - 10,000).

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Concentration of ownership

• Some individuals own several internet cafes
  within the city or across the country. As a
  consequence, while a small section of the
  commercial class are benefiting from the new
  wealth creation opportunities generated by the
  expanding IT sector, majority of Ghanaians have
  become purchasers of IT services totally
  dependent on the businesses of the former.

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Conclusion

• Thanks to their ability to overcome some of the
  bottlenecks facing Ghanas IT sector, the advent
  of internet cafes has helped some Ghanaians in
  their social and economic life.

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• Neither the efforts of the Ghana government nor
  donor support to Ghanas can explain the
  employment opportunities that have been generated
  by internet cafes, why ordinary Ghanaians with
  meager incomes can afford instant IT with their
  parties, why small businesses without IT
  facilities are able to conduct their business on
  the internet.

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• But the macro-changes that have accompanied the
  technology have come with social costs.
• The allocation of IT facilities in Ghana is
  extraordinarily uneven. Within Ghanaian society
  considerable stratification exist by place of
  residence, income and education and IT appear to
  have reinforced the existing inequalities.

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• Educated Ghanaians enjoy disproportionate access
  to the benefits of IT technology relative to
  other Ghanaians.
• State policy regarding the distribution of
  communication technology has prioritized the
  needs of city dwellers over the needs of
  non--urbanites giving rise to a two-tier IT
  service.

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• But if IT technology is here to eliminate the
  developmental challenges of Ghanaians, then these
  disadvantages is not only marginalizing Ghanas
  low income and rural population, it is also
  undercutting the basis upon which this
  populations can confront their relative social
  and economic disadvantages.

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• Regardless of its setbacks, with the advent of
  internet cafes the framework and foundation for
  an inclusive communication and information
  technology program have been firmly established
  in Ghana that would enable information technology
  to grow and flourish, and perhaps to serve as a
  model for other developing nations.
• The End

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• References
•  
• Ahiabenu, K (2001) Ghana Rapid Growth in
  Internet Use despite Cost Constraints, Africa
  Mail.
•  
• Daily Graphic (2000) Ghanas Potential for IT
  High, Accra Saturday July 15, p15
• Ernberg, J (1996) Information and Communication
  Infrastructure Development in Africa Paper
  presented at the regional conference The
  Information Highway for Developing Countries,
  Harare, Zimbabwe.

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• Ghana National Policy for Information Technology
  (2001) Briefing Paper, presented to
  participants of the National Homecoming Summit,
  July 2001.
•  
• International ITs Union (1996) African IT
  Indicators, Report prepared for the African
  Regional IT Development Conference, Cote dIvoire
  May 1996.
• World Fact Book 2000, Ghana US State
  Department, Washington.
•