In spite of the tremendous growth witnessed by the telecom sector, broadband penetration in the country has remained low. Nevertheless, Natesh Mani, President, Consumer Infrastructure Services, Sify Technologies is optimistic about tapping the potential of this segment, aided by Sify?s latest broadband offering, Platinum. tele.ne.in talks to Natesh Mani about the future of the broadband segment, Platinum?s unique features and the strategy behind launching this special package?.
The current Internet penetration in India is lower than what was predicted five years ago. Do you see this affecting the growth potential of Platinum?
With a broadband Internet access base of just over 8 million, and a total internet subscriber base of 15 million, India is definitely far behind the internet penetration targets set five years ago. This is indeed a concern for an emerging economy like India, which lags far behind the other BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia and China.
There are many reasons for this poor performance, the strongest of which is that internet service providers (ISP) face problems of last mile connectivity and allied footprint challenges. More enlightened policies such as unbundling of the local loop and the base price for Wi-Max spectrum being pegged to the size of the broadband Internet access market, can enable India to accelerate broadband Internet penetration.
Sify is committed to offering customers the best possible internet experience despite the many challenges we face. Sify Broadband targets a very specific segment – the small office – home office (SOHO) and small and medium businesses (SMB) with its Sify broadband and Sify talk (VoIP) range of products. Our aim is to partner with the small and medium business segment in their objective of becoming ever more efficient and productive in the more competitive business environment ushered in by globalisation. The profile, aspiration and needs of this segment are significantly different from both the Individual home consumers and large enterprise customers in India. We believe we have a good understanding of their needs, and are optimistic about the growth potential of Platinum in serving this market.
What kind of demand for broadband services has been witnessed from the SMB and SOHO segments in India?
The SOHO and SMB segment together spend about Rs 500 billion on IT. Apart from the large and medium enterprise segments, the number of SOHO/ SMBs in India is in excess of 10 million and growing at 25 per cent per annum. More importantly, the IT-access infrastructure of this segment is still nascent and growing. Just 15 per cent of this segment has an internet connection; and only 4 per cent have a broadband connection; and a mere 1 per cent has a website.
Our study shows that these are businesses run by independent entrepreneurs who aspire for a connected business. This defines the broadband potential of this segment. The benefits and value adds of the Platinum products have been developed based on the profile and needs of these businesses. In addition to Sify broadband which is specially designed for these segments, broadband-based applications like sify talk enables the segments to reduce their cost of international call by 70 per cent. Sify is committed to providing the best possible broadband connectivity and applications to meet their growing needs and make them business ready with their global counterparts.
How are the needs of a SME customer different from those of regular customers?
The SOHO and small businesses are run by entrepreneurs without IT departments, yet aspiring for a connected business for efficiencies and to be able to scale. While value for money connectivity is important, they also need broadband connections that are reliable, uninterrupted and fast. The conventional model of broadband delivery using cables, ADSL or fiber has high contention ratios and delivering guaranteed speed is a challenge. With Platinum, a Sify Broadband wireless product, customers will get dedicated speed, uninterrupted connectivity and better support, and is just the right product for their business. Being wireless delivery, it has better footprint and can be deployed swiftly. Apart from the Platinum range?s reliability and speed, the SOHO/Small business segment will appreciate the built in value adds that include domain names, email IDs, storage web-space, static IP and website building tools. Similarly , Sify talk , a VoIP developed specially for SOHO segments will help in reducing the international call bills up to 70 per cent, thus adding to their profitability without any additional investment.
The entire Sify Broadband and Sify talk range is designed keeping the needs of this particular segment in mind and is intended to help them grow their business.
What is Platinum?s USP?
With Platinum, a Sify Broadband wireless product, SOHO/SMB customers will get dedicated speed, uninterrupted connectivity and better support, and is just the right product for their business.
The conventional model of broadband delivery using cables, ADSL or fiber have high contention ratios, so delivering guaranteed speeds is a challenge. Sify uses an exclusive subscriber unit (SU) and wireless connectivity to extend a high speed, dependable and value for money service. This offers higher security, guaranteed speeds and high redundancy, and therefore reliability, to the customer.
Speeds range from 256 kbps to as high as 2 Mbps. There are a range of plans for the customer to choose from, which offer varying speeds, data downloads and even unlimited downloads. Apart from the quality broadband experience, customer?s gets free value-adds that are of relevance and benefit to them. This includes a Domain Name, 3 email IDs, 5 MB webspace, 3 static pages, static IP and a website builder. We have research to understand the needs of this segment and have built in these benefits into our Platinum portfolio. The initial feedback on our Platinum range of products are positive and proving we are on the right track.
What is the strategy behind launching a special package for the SMB/ SOHO segment?
As we have been successfully offering broadband to home for some years now, our understanding of broadband service delivery helps us to serve new segments like the SOHO/SMBs. Unlike big enterprises, the SOHO/SMB segments are usually run by individual entrepreneurs without large IT departments. This is an emerging segment which looks for uninterrupted, value for money connectivity at reliable speeds. We use an exclusive SU with wireless connectivity that offers higher security, guaranteed speeds and high redundancy, resulting in greater reliability, to the customer. The speed ranges from 256 kbps to as high as 2 Mbps. This segment is widely scattered and is best reached using wireless connectivity. Our strategy is to address this underserved segment with a product range that is configured to meet their needs in a manner in which it can be quickly deployed.
Does Sify have any more packages custom made for other niche business segments?
Sify?s consumer business continuously evolves and innovate products to offer value to our customers of the segments we target. We have enhanced our product offerings with inputs from our partners. Within the SOHO and SMB segments, small and medium exporters are big potential segments and one of the requirements is to call international at affordable rates. With the inputs from the potential segments we have designed Sify talk for SOHO and SMB segments, which is designed to reduce their international call bill by 70 per cent. Sify?s talk product for this segment have specific destination packs (USA, Europe, China, Singapore, etc) as well as world packs (for business development globally). Also the pack price ranges from as low as Rs 500 to Rs 4,000, based on the customer requirement of call volumes he expects from the business.
Also, in the near future we hope to launch very specific, focused and sub-segmented products. For example, products which will address cotton houses in Coimbatore or diamond merchants in Surat. Having said that, even our current portfolio has unique features that address several niche segments. For example, our website builder is something that will be especially useful for fashion designers, export houses and creative agencies. We are also planning to bring in a range of voice products on the VoIP platform at very affordable rates, which will greatly benefit exporters having high international calling requirements.
What marketing plan have you chalked out for Platinum?
The initial response has been very encouraging and we are currently focused on building partnerships with SOHO/ SMB customers in these markets. The chain of channel associates we have across the country is equally motivated and eager to take this new and exciting Sify broadband product for SOHO/SMBs to market.
Initially, we plan to offer our Sify broadband service for SOHO & SMB in the top 15 cities in India, including the four major metros. We believe that the semi urban markets and the suburban areas of major metros and big cities also have significant demand for a product like Platinum. This is because of new clusters developing in these areas and the low presence of wired broadband. We are ready to serve these markets and are committed to our promise of offering quality broadband at affordable prices across the country.
Apart from direct marketing, we will use innovative marketing approaches like community marketing and online marketing banners, SEM and SNM to reach our target customers. We are undertaking marketing initiative to educate the SOHO/SMB segments about how they can be smart in increasing their productivity and profitability with effective connectivity and communication solutions. We will also partner with organisations which work for the development of the SMB/ SOHO segments.
In addition, Sify has a very healthy channel partner ecosystem spread over 100 towns and cities in India.
