Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Business Idea #5 - Internet Cafe in Indian Village

This is an idea that I have been musing over the last few months. It involves taking 3 or 4 of my old computers over to my village in India ( Mutada Kalan, VPO Phillaur, Jallandar, Punjab, India ) and opening an Internet Cafe in the village.

My Chacha (Uncle) from the Village came over yesterday and said that it costs Rs.600 (£7.50) / month for Internet in India. I don't know the speed of the connection but it will probably be dial up (56k).

The idea is to get a small shop in the village or ask the STD/ PCO person if they want a computer in their shop so that customers can use it for web browsing and checking email.

I am not sure about pricing but if we are going by the UK pricing structure it would be about Rs.80 (£1) / hour.

Maybe somebody could tell me about average rates for Internet cafes in India??

UPDATE:
After the comments from Bhaji and Bhenji, I looked at phone call rates from India to U.K, U.S.A and Canada. I found Skype on the internet. I have seen Skype before but hadn't really looked into it in great detail. After more research I have found that you can ring any land line in Europe, U.S.A and Canada for 1.2p/ min. You can be anywhere in the world and still get this low rate.

So if I can setup the internet cafe and get a solid internet connection, then we can offer cheap international calls by installing Skype on the computers.

Surely there is a something in this idea...I better call my chacha ;-)))

Business Idea #4 - Convert VHS Tapes to DVD

This is a business idea that I am pursuing at the moment. It involves getting people to send in their old VHS tapes so that I can convert them into DVD format with chapter and background music.

There are other people who are doing this but they are expensive for what they provide. I am trying to provide a service that is good value for money.

This is the website that I have started to promote my service.

Other services that I am offering are Audio Tape to CD and mini-DV to DVD