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DIGITAL
Paradise Inc. (DPI), the owner, operator and franchisor
of the Netopia Internet café chain, is spending P15
million to upgrade and replace equipment in some of its
shops.
Netopia
has 160 branches nationwide, of which more than 80
outlets are company owned and the remaining operated
through franchises.
“Every
four years, we take a look at how we can further improve
our shops, particularly our equipment. The P15 million
that we are allotting will replace or upgrade some 422
stations or terminals,” said company president and chief
executive officer George Tan in an interview last week.
Despite
the popularity of Internet cafés in the country, Netopia
continues to be in the red. In the first six months of
the year, Tan said the company’s losses stood at about
P8 million. In 2007 it posted P29 million in net loss,
down from P114 million in 2006. The company’s losses
were narrowed down significantly as it closed down some
shops last year.
At
end-2007, Netopia branches stood over 170 from slightly
over 200 in 2006. Tan said more branches will be closed
in the second half of the year.
It also
closed down its last branch in Thailand recently. “It
was hard to manage a branch that is far away. There are
many barriers, including the language,” he said. “We
closed all four branches in Thailand.”
Netopia
also announced that it is partnering with Microsoft
Philippines to make information-technology learning more
available and affordable by offering e-learning programs
at its Internet cafés. The program is divided into 16
short courses, which include Microsoft Windows operating
systems such as Windows XP and Windows Vista and 2007
Microsoft Office.
“The
majority of our customers are college students and young
professionals and it’s good that we have this program
with Microsoft that we could offer to them. Through our
partnership with Microsoft, we are making computer
literacy more accessible through our extensive network
of Internet cafés all over the Philippines,” added Tan.
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