Introduction to The Best Internet Services Business
The Himalayas attract global attention because of the ruggedness of the mountains and the beauty of nature they encompass. For centuries people have been attracted to these mountains. Yet, life is hard for people living in these areas. Especially for those villages which are situated deep inside in the valleys across ranges after another.
Reaching some places is a big challenge. Building roads & bridges in these areas is hard & costly. Laying electricity cables, reaching piped water is again a tough ask. Such is the situation with telecom connectivity. Yet, citizens in these areas continue to lead a life with resilience & hard work. However, due to lack of infrastructure, many of them migrate to large cities in India’s plains seeking better livelihood opportunities.
Reaching some places is a big challenge. Building roads & bridges in these areas is hard & costly. Laying electricity cables, reaching piped water is again a tough ask. Such is the situation with telecom connectivity. Yet, citizens in these areas continue to lead a life with resilience & hard work. However, due to lack of infrastructure, many of them migrate to large cities in India’s plains seeking better livelihood opportunities.
Given the context, Varun & Shilpa, cofounded a business a few years ago, with a vision to create job opportunities in Kangra, a large district situated in the state of Himachal Pradesh, in northern India. In the last 5 years, we have created more than 100 jobs in the Information Technology sector for youth in this region. These are job roles like programmers, mobile application developers, graphic designers, digital marketers, SEO specialists, customer care executives, which were never heard of in this area.
While setting up IT business in this area, we realized that Affordable Internet Services are abysmally poor, especially in rural areas. Given their experience, having travelled the world and working in large cities in India, we came across more people like them who wanted to move from large cities to the mountains, setting up their own businesses, but lack of Internet was one of their key concerns. We felt the need for setting up Internet services.
In September 2015, Development Logics, their company took a license from the Indian government to set up Best Internet Services in Dharamshala. Since then their company has invested heavily in setting up the Internet infrastructure. Her customers include schools in remote areas, bank branches offering financial transactions to customers, village offices offering e-governance services, tourists staying in resorts & homestays, hydropower project who use the services for monitoring of the plant.
Now that we have established a small network in this area and have managed to run it for last few years, we realize that we can create a much larger impact if were to increase our network size, penetration and reliability. Currently, we have 26 Point of Presence (POPs) and each POP can host 5 to 6 Wireless Access Points (APs), from which we can cater to 50 connections depending on demographics of each area. Some of our POPs are in such remote locations where it takes 5–6 hours of travel over a motorable road and a couple of hours of trek to reach the destinations.
Himachal Pradesh has in total 12 districts and we are licensed to operate in two (2). In the long term, we plan to take a license for PAN Himachal Pradesh. Currently, we provide direct connections to our customers but once we roll out in all the districts, we plan to go Franchise-mode. Appoint Franchises, invest & expand our network in all the 12 districts. Currently, we cater to approx. 5000 users per day and expect to reach 30,000 in the coming 3 years provided we generate sufficient funds. Now we have reached a stage where we can leverage the knowledge gained & create a huge social impact and simultaneously improve our bottom line.
In terms of competition, we have few players in the main city but hardly any in the remotest corners of the valley as it is not pocket-friendly for players to operate in these areas. To operate, initial investment & cost of operations is high. I see a huge opportunity in remote locations due to very low competition. Risk is that once we do all the groundwork, our competitors also expand in that particular location. However, since we are doing subsidized connections, it’s not a very lucrative option for the competitors.
While setting up IT business in this area, we realized that Affordable Internet Services are abysmally poor, especially in rural areas. Given their experience, having travelled the world and working in large cities in India, we came across more people like them who wanted to move from large cities to the mountains, setting up their own businesses, but lack of Internet was one of their key concerns. We felt the need for setting up Internet services.
In September 2015, Development Logics, their company took a license from the Indian government to set up Best Internet Services in Dharamshala. Since then their company has invested heavily in setting up the Internet infrastructure. Her customers include schools in remote areas, bank branches offering financial transactions to customers, village offices offering e-governance services, tourists staying in resorts & homestays, hydropower project who use the services for monitoring of the plant.
Now that we have established a small network in this area and have managed to run it for last few years, we realize that we can create a much larger impact if were to increase our network size, penetration and reliability. Currently, we have 26 Point of Presence (POPs) and each POP can host 5 to 6 Wireless Access Points (APs), from which we can cater to 50 connections depending on demographics of each area. Some of our POPs are in such remote locations where it takes 5–6 hours of travel over a motorable road and a couple of hours of trek to reach the destinations.
Himachal Pradesh has in total 12 districts and we are licensed to operate in two (2). In the long term, we plan to take a license for PAN Himachal Pradesh. Currently, we provide direct connections to our customers but once we roll out in all the districts, we plan to go Franchise-mode. Appoint Franchises, invest & expand our network in all the 12 districts. Currently, we cater to approx. 5000 users per day and expect to reach 30,000 in the coming 3 years provided we generate sufficient funds. Now we have reached a stage where we can leverage the knowledge gained & create a huge social impact and simultaneously improve our bottom line.
In terms of competition, we have few players in the main city but hardly any in the remotest corners of the valley as it is not pocket-friendly for players to operate in these areas. To operate, initial investment & cost of operations is high. I see a huge opportunity in remote locations due to very low competition. Risk is that once we do all the groundwork, our competitors also expand in that particular location. However, since we are doing subsidized connections, it’s not a very lucrative option for the competitors.
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