TransCity

Videoconferencing is a slowly growing niche business in immigrant neighborhoods across the United States. Thanks to savvy immigrants entrepreneurs who see opportunity in family bonds.

Fernando Rojas, a Colombia native who has lived in the United States for 25 years, opened a videoconferencing service in Bay Shore eight months ago after more than a year of planning and several years of dreaming. He has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to arrange facilities in the United States and several Spanish-speaking countries.

The cost of the sessions depends on the country the immigrants are trying to contact and the day of the week. Rojas charges about $80 an hour for Colombia on the weekends, $90 an hour for El Salvador on weekends and $120 an hour for Ecuador any day.

Industry analists say there are no hard statistics on immigrants’ use of videoconferencing, but anecdotal reports indicate that the increasing affordability of the equipment has helped take the technology beyond corporate boardrooms, though for the most high-end services, the cost remains steep.

Harold German, marketing director for IVCi, says his videoconferencing company is getting an increasing number of inquiries from people such as Rojas about how to set up an intercontinental videoconferencing link.

For many immigrants, videoconferencing is replacing the kinds of visits that might have been possible before tougher U.S. entrance and exit restrictions on foreigners took effect. Even legal immigrants often wait years to earn permanent residency and citizenship, unable or unwilling to go beyond U.S. borders for legal and financial reasons.

Source: Marketing News