Multi-purpose community telecentres

As outlined in Telecentres: Case studies and key issues telecentres may be defined as strategically located facilities providing public access to ICT-based services and applications. They are typically equipped with some combination of:

• Telecommunication services such as telephones, fax, e-mail and Internet;
• Office equipment such as computers, CD-ROM, printers and photocopiers;
• Multimedia hardware and software, including radio, TV and video; and
• Meeting spaces for local business or community use, training and so on.

While facilities and usage vary across telecentres, all reflect the intention to address the issues of access by providing technology, develop human capacity, and encourage social and economic development. Depending on the size and extent of the services provided, these centres are usually operated by a manager and a small number of staff who may be part-timers or volunteers.

Originating in Sweden around 1985, telecentres experienced fairly rapid growth in Western Europe and other industrialised countries where rural isolation, lack of purchasing power and low-quality telecommunications and information technology facilities were seen to be a hindrance to participation in the information economy. By 1994, there were more than 230 telecentres in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the USA. The idea then spread and has become adapted to the needs of emerging markets and developing countries.

Telecentres vary a great deal, especially in their size, facilities and services, according to whether they are rural or urban and whether they are located in the developed or developing world. Some provide only basic telecommunications services and are best referred to as “phone shops” or “public call offices” (PCOs).

Countries such as Peru, South Africa, Morocco, Senegal, Indonesia, India and Bangladesh have independently developed these, starting in urban or larger rural communities with a low level of private telephone penetration and/or a large enough market for public access businesses to be commercially viable. Well-known examples are Senegal’s Sonatel with about 10,000 PCO franchisees, or approximately 5% of all telephone lines; Indonesia’s 7,000 or so Wartels; the Grameen “phone ladies” in Bangladesh; or the PCOs in India (about 10,200 such centres in 1996); These PCOs or phone shops often comprise just a telephone and fax, but more and more are adding personal computers.

The advanced concept, as developed and promoted by the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), called Multipurpose Community Telecentres
(MCTs), may include facilities such as libraries, training workshops, seminar rooms and office space for local enterprises, and provide services such as videoconferencing, distance education, training in ICTs, telework, telemedicine, telehealth and even telebanking and e-commerce. Telecentres can also function as community information centres, providing access to databases and receiving and posting information of general interest to local people (e.g., government notices, information on the spread of diseases, weather information, prices of farm products, educational opportunities).

Purposes of telecentres therefore include to:

• expand access to ICT-based services;
• extend the reach of public services such as education, health and social services;
• provide information of general interest to the local community, including
  government information, and of special interest to specific groups such as farmers, local businesses and non-governmental organisations (NGOs); and
• provide access to infrastructure, technology support and advice for the development of businesses.

Telecentres are expected to have a positive impact on the socio-economic development of the communities they serve, helping to:

• develop rural and remote infrastructure;
• provide rural regions with better public services and improved local administration;
• generate employment and foster socio-economic development;
• integrate relatively isolated communities into the national and international
  information network and thus accelerate exchange of private goods and services;
• transfer expertise in a number of areas, such as agriculture, to and from the
  community; and
• give local producers access to market information, thus reducing the need for middlemen and increasing rural incomes.