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ISSUE NO 56 AFRICA'S DIGERATI

MICHEL MAVROS, METISSACANA

Metissacana was the first internet company to be launched in Senegal by its founders Michel Mavros and Alex Sikorsky. It offered a full ISP service and another first, opened a cyber cafe (Cafe d’Afrique de L’Ouest). It was also first to offer internet radio with Sud FM in March 1997 and Radio Nostalgie Dakar in December 1997. Since 1998 Metissaca has been a local Microsoft solutions provider. In September 1998 it opened a second cyber cafe in Saint-Louis and regional offices in Saint-Louis, Thies, Kaoloack, Tambacounda, Zigunchor. During the Presidential elections of 2000, Metissacana led (with Sud FM and Codesria) a series of debates between candidates and the public. In July 2000 it continued to innovate by producing a concert by satellite between Africa and Europe. It also produces events like Simod, the Dakar Carnival and "la fete de l’internet".

> How many subscribers have you got now?

We have 1200 users who we provide all services for throughout Senegal. There are 9000 e-mails address-only subscribers. At our cyber cafes, there 2000 users monthly in Dakar and 1000 monthly in St Louis.

> How many of these are company/corporate subscribers?

It’s about half and half.

> What do they use your service for primarily? E-mail? Web?

E-mail is always the first thing people want to use. Otherwise usage levels reflects our subscriber base.

> How many Senegalese web sites are there and what are the really interesting ones (besides your own)?

You get to them mostly through our home page link called "les sites du metissacana" (http://www.metissacana.sn)

> Are there big differences between the services offered by different Internet Service Providers (ISPs)? What are these differences?

We aim to provide the best quality service because open 24/24 and 7/7 with a phone hot line free services for our users.

> Has the growth in internet subscriptions slowed down? Why?

Yes because bandwith is very expensive and there’s not enough of it. The cost makes it difficult for the mass of people to be able to use it. The lack of bandwidth restricts the hosting of web sites and services that might interest more people. It’s a vicious circle.

> What are the future plans for developing your company?

We plan to integrate financial partners who can help us resolve the bandwith problem and upgrading our capacities. With this in place, a long-term target of 100,000 users for Metissacana would easily be possible. We would also look to upgrade rural connectivity with wireless and improve our teleservices

Michel Mavros can be contacted on: michel@metissacana.sn

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