OneRoof Service to expand cyber cafe chain

Dec 15, 2007, 12:47 GMT

Chennai, Dec 15 (IANS) Rural cyber cafe chain operator OneRoof Service Private Limited, a subsidiary of a US-based firm, has decided to expand its network in rural areas of south India through the franchisee model.

Starting commercial operations in 2006, the company, a 100 percent subsidiary of the US-based OneRoof Inc, has 10 centres in Tamil Nadu.

With its centres earning between Rs.25,000-Rs.40,000 a month, OneRoof Services is confident that its business model would succeed while spreading the Internet connectivity in rural India.

'Our long term plan is to have at least 1,600 franchisees in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka,' OneRoof CEO Dwight M. Wilson told reporters here Friday.

Apart from the Internet access charge, a franchisee can earn revenue from offering services like computer education, computer games, online railway/airline ticket booking, photography and mobile phone recharge.

According to Deepa Anandakrishnan, CEO of OneRoof Services, the computer course fee will be linked to the computer usage time.

She said around Rs.15 million has been spent by the company till date on the project.

In order to ramp up the franchisee network, Anandakrishnan said the company was expanding its network by opening regional offices in cities like Coimbatore.

'Our immediate target is to have at least 100 franchisees in a year's time,' remarked Praveen Kumar Prithvi, managing director.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service