Mosques consider entering telecom kiosk business

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Council of Mosques is looking into the possibility opening telecommunication centers in the grounds of some of the 650,000 mosques spread across the country.

Council head Sutarmadi said that apart from the spiritual, social and intellectual side of mosques that was already in evidence, Muslims should look at how mosques could also be utilized to help better the welfare of Muslims.

He pointed that in many large mosques in Jakarta, such as Istiqlal, Al-Azhar and Sunda Kelapa, temporary peddlers and vendors were already operating.

Sutarmadi said the council, in cooperation with the communication ministry, was examining the proposed selling of telecommunication services at certain mosques.

Telecommunication centers, commonly referred to by the term wartel, are found in many areas. They provide telephone, facsimile and sometimes Internet access.

The economic potential is certainly there, with surveys indicating that there will be some 2 million Internet users in the country by the end of the year.

With 650,000 mosques across the country, it is estimated that if each district or subdistrict has five mosques housing telecommunication centers there would be about 1,500 mosques with the facilities. (10)