For Nigeria's teeming rural dwellers, there is fresh hope of affordable Internet access as one of the country's IT players, Next Technology Limited, launches its Nigeria Internet Project (NIP). The NIP is geared at providing cheap Internet access via Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) to the 765 local government areas (LGAs) of the country, according to Lai Omotola, managing director of Next Technology.

"We want to encourage investors and community leaders to set up and manage cybercafes at the minimum cost possible in rural and semi urban areas. This would ultimately help them to offer cheap and affordable Internet services to a large number of Nigerians," Omotola said.

While there has been an overwhelming attention drawn to opening the Internet window at most of the country's cities, though Internet access remains expensive outside of major cities such as Lagos and Ibadan, rural communities and relatively large urban settlements remain extremely unattractive to potential investors.

The NIP wants to draw the interest of potential investors to these areas as a way of increasing the number of people having access to the Internet.

Investment in Internet related services could be profitable to those deploying such services in rural areas despite the attendant infrastructural set-backs of establishing business points in rural areas, said Omotola.

But a space to earth Internet access through VSAT could be provided at no 'cut-throat' prices where investors are taught how to set up and cost-effectively manage cybercafes and other Internet related enterprises, added Omotola.

Already, such ventures have been established at urban and semi-urban areas including Delta State capital Asaba, Osun State's Ogbomoso, and Osogbo under the guidance of Next Technology.

To Omotola, the Ogbomoso venture has effectively helped to prove that cybercate ventures could be profitable outside of major commercial centres such as Lagos and Kano.

"The man in Ogbomoso makes a minimum of N57, 000 everyday and drives a traffic comparable if not higher than some of big cybercafes in Lagos.

"There is a huge market for this business anywhere. A lot of youths are now using the Internet to fill their idle time in the cities. Nothing stops their contemporaries from doing the same in rural areas. The Internet offers limitless opportunities including some ofthe cheapest means to communicate whether through e-mail, lnternet calls or SMS. These are things that should interest any businessman with the basic know-how

The company plans to cover the entire country with its new scheme and is set to launch a formal awareness campaign on the NIP.

Nigeria still trails behind South Africa and many African countries with an Internet penetration that is regarded as one of the poorest in the window. A recent report by the International Telecommunications Union (TTU) on e-readiness of countries around the world, published last Month, puts the country at the

bottom of the ladder in a survey of over 120 countries.

Part of the objectives of the NIP is geared at addressing this problem by building a pool of investors who would help provide cheap Internet access and push up the country's rating on the ITU's scale.