KUWAIT CITY, Oct 18: Kuwait on Wednesday proved it is not beyond the reach of the latest world-wide trends, as businessman Imad Al-Refai opened the country's first internet café.

 Kuwait Internet Cafe, appropriately named, is not only expected to become a social hang out, but more importantly, a place for non-users to get acquainted with the technological wave of the future. "The internet is still foreign to a lot of people," Al-Refai said, "and for those who are curious, well now they have a place to come and experience a taste of the future." A future, that is here to stay. Still in its developmental stage, the possibilities of the Internet are really quite endless - which is overwhelming to some and craved by others, nonusers and users respectively.

 There are literally hundreds of 'cyberspace' companies which continue to develop special software for the 'Information Superhighway'.
Software which allows a person to use the service for personal banking needs, to search for information ranging from medicine to recipes, shopping, and to meet new friends from around the world, just to name a few.
Earlier this year, the Kuwait Diving Team successfully rescued several turtles trapped in Gulf waters, after receiving information provided over the internet from around the world.

 According to Al-Refai, the most popular sites at the Cafe, are the IRC (International Relay Chat) links, which allow users in Kuwait to chat 'online' with individuals around the world. 'On-line' chat is just like a telephone conversation, but instead of speaking, the user has a conversation by typing.

 As explained by Al-Refai, the Cafe also serves as a place for people who want to introduce the service to their friends. "Maybe someone knows a person that would like to familiarise themselves with the internet," Al-Refai explained, "but before they inve st money on their own system, their friends can bring them here first, so that they can know exactly what they're missing out on."

 The Internet Cafe, looks very similar to a computer centre that you might find housed in a large corporation or on a university campus, with one exception, users can also order light snacks, cakes, ice-cream, and hot or cold drinks. In order not to disrupt a person's time spent on the internet, a user can conveniently make a snack order by using the menu provided on the computer.

 "This feature is unique to Kuwait," AI-Refai explained, "in that a user does not have to leave the keyboard if he or she gets thirsty or hungry." The ordering system is also used to keep accounting records and information on the Cafe's inventory.

 There are 16 IBM PCs (personal computers) available at the Cafe, with an additional lab of ten PCs which will be used for company or individual training courses on the internet. The Cafe also has a list of magazines that customers can choose from to read for leisure or use for research.

 Courses will be available through the Kuwait Internet User Group, according to General Manager, Kuwait Computer Society, Abdulaziz Al-Duaij. The courses are bilingual, and are aimed at encouraging people to become familiar with the services available through the internet. "The internet is new to this community," Al-Duaij said, "and because it's the wave of the future, people need to be educat ed about this new technology." "In two years time, everything as we know it will be different ... based on the internet," Al-Duaij added.

 So, for KD2 per hour residents of Kuwait can meet new friends, visit the library at the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, or take a trip to a favourite museum, using Microsoft browser, Netscape III , or Netscape Gold.
For the first month, a user can receive the first half hour free at the Cafe, and business people staying in hotels can bring their room key and receive up to 25 per cent off. There is no membership currently being offered at the Cafe, however, Al-Refai noted that membership may become available to regular customers in the near future.

 Kuwait Internet Cafe is located on the mezzanine level of the Dawiliya complex in Kuwait City (behind the Kuwait Airways Company building). Hours of operation daily are from 9:00 am to 10:00 p.m.
You can also check out the Cafe's homepage at www.safat.com/cafe, and for more information on internet courses contact: ksc@moc.kw or fax 2527986.

Arab Times, October 19th 1996.

KUWAIT: The owner of Kuwait Internet Cafe said yesterday that he might open new branches of the public service in the future and disclosed the project had cost him KD 50,000 (nearly $165,000).

 Imad Saleh AI-Rifai, who opened the cafe in the city centre four days ago, said in an interview with Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) that customers of the cafe are not compelled to use the service, which cost only (KD 2) ($6.6) per hour.

 The service is aimed at furnishing customers with most up-to-date information through the international network, said AI-Rifai, who also indicated that he was inspired by the need to make the service available. for people who cannot afford to buy personal computers.

 Customers are not obliged to use the Internet-linked computers in the cafe or order soft drinks or snacks, AI-Rifai said, describing the cafe as a place to host people seeking rest or anxious to get, acquainted with the latest invention in international communications.

 AI-Rifai, predicted low returns, but hinted that he was offering other services to secure sufficient gains, such as selling computers and magazines specialised in the Internet services.

 Moreover, the centre offers special courses to train customers to use the Internet. AI-Rifai says he intends to open new branches of the special service in the future after assessing the peoples' response.

 The location of the cafe, equipped with 16 Internet-linked computer sets, was chosen in the heart of Kuwait City because it is easily accessible to university students and businessmen.

 The Internet centre was launched with Kuwaiti expertise and with special facilities by a national computers company which offered computers at low prices, AI-Rifai said.

 Customers are obliged to follow guidelines to refrain from using the service in a way that may be harmful to Kuwait's interests, security, morals or customs.

 Certain technical procedures had been adopted to make sure that users of the Internet service would not cross the line, AI-Rifai asserted.

 The Internet service is used in Kuwait by 2,000 individuals and hundreds of institutions, such as Kuwait University, the National Assembly, Kuwait money market and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.

 On some hurdles obstructing the expansion of the service in the country, AI-Rifai mentioned the high cost of monthly fees and the slow speed of the cables which does not exceed 28,800 megabites.

 The speed becomes lower in the reception of data, he said. AI-Rifai indicated that businessmen can strike deals via the Internet network, but cautioned against revealing information that maybe used by misusers of the network. - Kuna 

Kuwait Times.