Interest in Internet cafes across the UAE is on a strong wicket with July alone seeing the biggest monthly increase in new facilities hitting the market.

In all, 28 new cafes and 290 new PCs were installed in July, according to figures released by Emirates Internet and Multimedia (EIM).

This brings the number of cafes in the UAE to 191, of which 98 have sprung up in 2002 alone.

To date, 2,563 Internet-enabled PCs are installed in the cafes. In the last seven months, 1,252 new PCs were added.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi have seen the most demand for the centres, with 119 in Dubai and 29 in Abu Dhabi.

Al Ain and Sharjah are also seeing an increase, with 13 and 8 respectively.

Internet cafes were first introduced to the UAE in September 1996, and have since been attracting a lot of attention. The country's large expatriate community is believed to have amplified the surge in demand.

"There is a new Internet Cafe community arising in the country that is not only connecting people to the Internet, but is also bringing communities together on common ground. Every day thousands of people use the cafes to search for information and contact friends and family," said Maroua Naim, EIM general manager.

"We aim to keep encouraging the growth of Internet cafes throughout the country to bring the Internet closer to the community," she added.

"Evidently, there is high demand for these resources among the community and we have been working hard to ensure that demand does not outstrip supply.

"We expect to see persistent expansion over the coming months that will continue to exceed our growth forecasts."