Seven Reasons Why You Should Become Your Own ISP, and How to do it.

When the concept of network ownership was born in the mid noughties it was seen as yet another step towards developing and de-regulating the telecoms market for emergent Service Providers.

Telecoms providers were handed an opportunity to own their own network asset, contribute to forming a competitive landscape and offer the benefits of networks with the service level of a small business. The intentions were well meaning, but skip forward 15 years and owning a broadband network (or any network for that matter) is no longer seen as an asset.

Cumbersome, complex, costly, capex heavy and operationally challenging, and all so we can declare that we own an asset when, actually, the fastest-growing businesses are actually asset light. Think, Daisy. Their business models are nimble, adaptable, simple, replicable and customer focused.

Owning a small network is not congruent with this, which is why decommissioning networks and converting from ISP to Virtual ISP is seen as a way to develop operational efficiencies, better manage margins and put the

focus firmly back on the customer.

We will now explore the core reasons to make the switch.

1. Unless you have consumer traffic, you are always going to have a network that is dormant in the evening

The capacity of your network is determined by your peak times, which means that for 16 out of every 24 hours you are running a high-bandwidth network with high availability that fails to maximise your investment.

There are a few immediate solutions, none of them particularly appealing:

You could choose to rent out your network and bring on a partner who focuses on consumer business, but they are few and far between. Realistically, B2B businesses are not set up for out-of-hours support, and certainly not at the level required by home users.

You could branch into the retail market yourself; but the margins are tight and the bundles are now Quad Play, offering broadband, phone, TV and mobile, which would mean dramatic changes to your business model.

You could resign yourself to a quiet network in the evening, but this will eventually force up your costs, making your business prices uncompetitive and your margins so tight that it’s hard to invest in better service mechanisms.

A Virtual ISP does not face this dilemma, because they have the flexibility to build their network according to demand, rather than having to pay for network access that they can’t sell.

2. Calculating your cost price requires a degree in Mathematics and skills akin to those in Good Will Hunting

Now this is no reflection on your business – even the big boys struggle with this one. In fact they struggle more than most; because the truth of the matter is that the more complex the network, the harder it gets to understand exactly what it is made of.

Planning future investment is also tricky. Anticipating market trends and demand is challenging and there is a fine balancing act between your business objectives, network development and the sales and marketing

achievement. Calculating future and ongoing investment requirements is a challenge, and any errors can be fatal for cash flow and overall profitability.

A Virtual ISP has none of this headache. The guesswork is completely removed and replaced with a simple price point from which you can build out your tariffs and costs, easily ensuring your business’s profitability.

3. One price point

The management of the network is not only complex and constantly changing in line with technological development, it is also incredibly difficult to pinpoint the baseline cost. It isn’t always a sum of all the parts.

There is also the challenge of predicting both the usage of current customers and then the pipeline, and getting this wrong can mean you have a group of very unhappy customers.

Typical customer interactions can escalate quickly:

“I have a broadband fault” – pretty generic

“My broadband has slowed down” – beginning to sound suspicious

“I want to cancel my broadband” – lost business

A Virtual ISP avoids this with one simple price point across the network for their realm, upgrading when required and never squeezing customers’ usage when calculations go a bit awry.

4. Every time you need to upgrade your network you cancel out recent growth through the necessary capex

Unless there is a retail route to market margins are tight, and as the complexity of the network grows it becomes harder to identify how much money you are making per tail sold, and in no time you need to upgrade.

Someone once described upgrading their network as being like buying a taxi: you have to get the car before you even take your first fare. It is like this with a broadband network. Upgrading involves capital expenditure

and the profitability from this product suffers a blow until the trading level increases to the value of the investment. Only then will it become worthwhile in terms of margin.

Investing in a Virtual ISP engagement means that you don’t have to worry about cancelling out your growth every time you want to build in more network capacity – your realm can flex as required. This means there is

no investment from you until you have the business to warrant it.

5. Consolidate your network

Smaller ISPs tend to have limited interconnects for network coverage which often means running a network alongside at least one managed services arrangement. These providers then have two revenue streams for one product, with very different commercial models, further complicating the proposition.

A virtual reseller has the opportunity to leverage the network relationships of the larger ISPs, allowing for the consolidation of their network offerings under one brand, which they own.

6. One portal, one set of analytics

In business we all know: the simpler the better. Successful businesses are built on a highly replicable and repeatable sales model, and the same can be said for most business functions.

An efficient operations team offers a far improved service to customers, but this can be jeopardised if the interface between product and customer is complex. Often this can include multiple product, billing and

network portals, with varying aesthetics and user journeys adding further complexity to onboarding staff and managing customers.

Information is power, and our Partners tell us that they need the tools, the analytics and the general visibility of their network. They do not want to lose control of this level of management and first-hand insight, which is

why the Wavenet portal provides an equivalent level of detail, but on one interface, with a user friendly and intuitive user experience. This has resulted in more efficient onboarding and training of new staff, and easier

customer query resolution.

7. It frees you to put your effort into delivering solutions that your customers want

The common theme throughout is the transition of something from being limited and complex to being flexible and simple. Providers who make this transition are then able to focus more thoroughly on the solution

delivery, building in-demand services for their customers and placing the focus back on the sales and marketing effort.

Streamlining in this way aids growth by realigning the business focus with that of its customers.

If you would like more information on the Wavenet ISP-in-a-Box offering, then please drop us a message here and we will be in touch shortly.

Why Wavenet?

Wavenet Wholesale is leading the way in Telecoms aggregation. Simplifying the ability to procure multiple services from multiple suppliers via our real-time portal.

We are constantly forging new and relevant relationships with key vendors, network providers and solution architects to ensure our Partners have the latest technology at their fingertips.

Partner with Wavenet and ensure you close every deal.