I took the first photo. That was in April 2008 in an informal telecenter visit. The second one appeared in a Sinhala blog recently.
Mangedara Nenasala telecenter at Thulhiriya (less than 2 km from MAS Holdings) is one of the hundreds of defunct Nenasala telecenters. During better times it provided services such as utility bill payments and computer training. Now it remains closed since the operator, who was never paid for his services, left for better opportunities.
The findings of the telecenter operator survey done by LIRNEasia at a workshop organised by Sarvodaya in October 2008 will be useful to understand why Nenasalas fail. (Sample was not representative, but large enough to get a general idea about the telecenter operations in Sri Lanka.)
Do telecenters in Sri Lanka make money? Yes. They report an average monthly income of Rs. 22,119. (=USD 201) This is associated with a relatively large standard deviation of Rs. 21,714 (= USD 197) indicating a variation within a wide range. This means a large number of telecenters are running at a loss.
Providing Internet services ranked only third among telecenter income components (16%). The key sources of income are education and training (43%) and providing fax, photocopy and printing series (21%). They also make money from VoIP (4.5%), utility bill payments (2.5%) telephone calls (2.5%) selling other goods (2%) and VCD/DVD rentals (1%).
Do telecenters make a profit? Yes, but perhaps may not in real terms. They record a monthly average profit of Rs. 6,735 (=USD 61) with a large standard deviation of Rs. 9,504 (=USD 86). This indicates the loss incurred by some of them. This is again without considering the cost of the communication link. (The monthly average cost of a 2 Mbps business broadband connection is USD 46 in Colombo. This might be slightly high in rural areas.)
Telecenters operators are rewarded in different ways. Only 33% are salaried. 22% receive a share of profits. 13% receive an allowanced based on performance. 32% receive no personal income.
4 Comments
Nenasala
What is happening to Nenasala now? SOme say ICTA doesnt cover connectivity costs now. What is the fate of nenasala?
Nuwan
ICTA එකෙන් නැණසළවල් දාගන දාගන ගියාට දැනගන හිටියේ නෑ කහොමද මේවා කරන්නේ කුියලා. අපේ පන්සේලේත් එකක් දැම්මා විතරයි කිසිම සහයෝගයක් නෑ දුනිනේ. අවුරුදු 4 කට කිසිම නිලදාරියෙක් නෑණසල පැත්තේ ආවේ නෑ. මහජන සල්ලි නාස්ති කරන නිලදාරින්ගේ වැරැද්ද මේක. ICTA එකේ ඉන්න එක නිලදාරියෙක්වත් නැණසළ ගැන ගම ගැන දනින මිනිස්සු නෙවේ. ඒක කතාවෙන්ම තේරෙනවා.
dannt
if you look at the two pictures carefully, they are not the same.
the concrete posts behind the first bill board and the posts behind the 2nd bill board are different. just to let you know.
#HomeBasedFlexiworkInCovid19 : Joint LIRNEasia, CPR and JustJobs Network panel at 2022 Internet Research Conference
Senior research managers Gayani Hurulle and Ayesha Zainudeen recently shared insights on the experience of women in India and Sri Lanka working remotely and flexibly during the pandemic at a jointly organised by LIRNEasia, the Centre for Policy Research (New Delhi) and the JustJobs Network at the 2022 Internet Research Conference (organised by the Centre for Internet and Society, CIS). LIRNEasia has been working with CPR and JJN over the last two and a half years on research on if and how digital platforms are empowering women with regards to work opportunities in India and Sri Lanka.
Cash transfers to the poor urgently needed; but who is poor in Sri Lanka?
The need for cash transfer to ease the inflationary burden faced by Sri Lankans has never been higher. While the monthly amounts paid by the Government are paltry, it will at least provide minor relief to those who need it the most.
LIRNEasia research on vaccine communications at 22nd ICA Conference
I recently participated in a panel discussion on “Health Communication: Risk & Strategies during COVID-19” at the International Communications Association (ICA) Conference (South Asia Regional Hub) on 29 May 2022. This session was also streamed at the main ICA Conference in Paris.
Links
User Login
Themes
Social
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Contact
15 1/2, Balcombe Place, Colombo 08
Sri Lanka
+94 (0)11 267 1160
+94 (0)11 267 5212
info [at] lirneasia [dot] net
Copyright © 2022 LIRNEasia
a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific