While fixed line broadband penetration in the country has increased in the past few years, user experience has remained abysmal due to slow access speeds. Although several service providers have started offering high speed internet services, their high prices have been a major disincentive for customers. Consequently, there is a potential market for fixed line broadband services that remains untapped. One company that has been able to capitalise on this opportunity is Spectranet.

A pure-play internet service provider, the company has been offering broadband services to small and medium enterprises since 2002. Over time, Spectranet extended broadband offerings such as fibre-to-the-home to retail customers, given the significant traction of internet services amongst them. Currently, it is providing high speed broadband services under Fibre Optic Xperience (FOX) in the Delhi National Capital Region, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai. The company has also made significant progress in the Wi-Fi segment. In 2011, it deployed the first mobile data offload system in India, which helped manage network congestion by shifting heavy 2G/3G data traffic to Wi-Fi networks.

In addition, Spectranet has diversified into other telecom segments such as data centre and hosting solutions in order to become an integrated service provider. It also offers server co-location, interactive voice response system, disaster recovery, hosted dialler, internet security solutions, virtual private server and server hosting for enterprise customers.

Strategic alliances

Spectranet has been aggressively expanding its service portfolio through partnerships with companies in multiple domains. For instance, it has partnered with the instant messaging service provider Nimbuzz to offer VoIP service, called Spectranet hello ip, at competitive rates. The service allows users in India to make international calls to mobile and fixed line connections at prices similar to local calls. The service should attract customer interest in the prevailing international long distance service scenario, wherein operators have hiked their tariffs. Spectranet could benefit from this situation.

In January 2014, the company tied up with BoxTV.com, a website offering on-demand video streaming. With this tie-up, Spectranet’s customers can access content on BoxTV.com and get charged directly by the former under its monthly plans. Further, Spectranet’s customers get an additional 8 GB of free data usage with their monthly BoxTV subscription plan. Customers are able to watch video content on BoxTV.com every month without exhausting their monthly broadband plan volume. On exceeding the 8 GB data limit, users can continue to access content on BoxTV.com under their regular data plan. Spectranet Broadband powered by FOX offers a download speed of 12 Mbps-16 Mbps and customers can carry forward their unused data volume to the next billing cycle.

In August 2014, Spectranet also entered into a strategic alliance with Gurgaon-based IT firm iYogi, to deliver extensive solutions for customer network management and technical support for the former’s home and business customers in India. Spectranet introduced the Tech Assist solution using iYogi’s software-as-a-service platform in order to provide technical support to its broadband customers. The solution can support over 500 technology products and has been made available to Spectranet’s existing and new customers. The company can remotely assess and resolve any technical issue to give an enhanced service experience to customers through Digital Service Cloud.

The way forward

With demand for high speed broadband services rising owing to increased adoption of bandwidth-intensive applications and over-the-top services, Spectranet seems to be well positioned to corner a significant share of the market. Given customers’ appetite for digital content, it has become imperative for service providers like Spectranet to focus not just on bandwidth and data usage limits but also on providing value-added features through the integration of services and solutions. The company’s approach of becoming an integrated service provider will stand it in good stead.

No doubt the entry of new players and business expansion by existing companies will pose a challenge. Given the reach and resources of incumbent players in the broadband market, Spectranet is likely to face stiff competition. Nonetheless, it will gain from the growing adoption of cloud and data centre solutions by enterprises. Higher uptake of these services will help the company improve its profitability and offset the business risks associated with the broadband service market.