In many of IICD’s projects internet connection is often unreliable, too slow and too expensive. An answer to this problem could be a high quality direct satellite connection but for most project partners, the monthly fees for such connections are too high.
The Pay-As-You-Go system used in Ghana could be a solution for these problems. At the IICD-supported Community Information Centre in Salaga (Ghana) internet vouchers are sold.
Pay-As-You-Go is an access model to internet through satellite that’s already very well-known all around the world. It can be found in airports, hotels or large shopping malls in western countries. People buy vouchers to log in to the internet for a certain amount of time or they can use a certain amount of data or time. They then type in the vouchers’ code on their laptop or at a PC on the location and get an indication of how long they can stay online until the card runs out. In Africa there is also a lot of experience with this prepaid model. Particularly in the mobile phone industry prepaid cards are sold frequently and in some cases even electrical companies offer the prepaid service.