iWeek Conference 2006 now open for bookings

One of the biggest Internet industry conferences in South Africa, the annual Internet Week or iWeek is now open for bookings. I spoke at this conference in 2004 on the topic of the Internet Cafe industry in South Africa. And I get regular emails every month, increasingly about how to set up an Internet Cafe. Well, I’m working on this.

What’s so shocking is how disinterested the ISPs are in encouraging Cyber cafes in South Africa. My current estimate is approximately 300 of them vs several thousand in countries like Taiwan and South Korea. A news article I found once claimed India has over 50,000 of them!

I will be attending this year’s event (not as a speaker) but to rally support for my research into the Internet Cafe industry. We need much more access by 2010.