The Role of Telecenters in Rural ICT Development Part 2 Parkinson and Lauzon (2008) have investigated the impact

of internet on local social equity by conducting a study on a telecenter in Columbia. The main finding of the study is that the telecenter does not improve the local social equity through its services. They have also found that there is no marked difference between the users of telecenters and other internet users and the main use of the telecenter was to improve the formal employment options of the users. As far as the telecenter was concerned, it was established by a local non-governmental organization with funding for period of three years. During the period of operation of the telecenter, it was observed that though the telecenter is expected to pay for itself through the generated income, the total income was not even sufficient to cover half of the operating expenses let alone expected capital expenses in the future. The other main issue affected the operation was the stability of the internet connection. The internet connection was through a dial-up phone line, once connected it would be shared by all computers in the center. The staff manned the telecenter also lacked the technical skills for managing services and applications that would enhance the services provided. The owners/providers of the telecenter were unable hire better qualified professionals to operate the center due financial constraints. Hedberg (2010) has carried out an in depth study on how a telecenter can provide meaningful access for its community using Tunjang telecenter in Kedah, Malaysia as the case. The telecenter was established by the National IT Council on the request of the community for enhancing the IT skills of the students and members of the community. The telecenter provided IT training for the students during school hours and the others during other times. The main services provided were internet access and the training on Microsoft application packages. The demand for the services was overwhelming at times 2-4 persons sharing a single computer. The internet connectivity was provided through a slow dial-up connection that must be shared by all of the 20 computers in the telecenter. The main shortcoming observed was the lack of knowledge in maintenance of the computers by the computer administrators and funding for continuous improvement of the system to meet the demand. The specific issue identified included lack of funding for the replacement of computers at the end of life span and the renewal of software licenses.