How to start an ISP business in India with less than ₹ 500,000?
In this post we provide a sample business model to start an ISP / WISP business in India
This article may serve useful to those who want to become an Internet service provider in India and understand the minimum investment required for their own WISP set-up with the help of our ISP consultants. We provide this information based on clients we helped become a WISP in small cities, townships and villages in India.
Introduction: Is it possible to start a WISP business in India with less than ₹ 500,000?
With our ISP consultants’ expertise and experience, we can say Yes!
- To become an ISP few years back in India meant heavy licensing, bandwidth and infrastructure costs. Luckily, it’s much easier now. There are two possible ways to become an isp:
- The first option is to apply for an ISP license from DoT
- and the second option is to get a ready-to-run ISP franchise.
- After you apply for an ISP license or an ISP franchise you can buy bulk bandwidth from the bulk bandwidth providers in India, create your own marketing materials and pricing plans, work with recommended hardware/software and expand to nearby cities/villages in your district.
- Costs of starting an ISP franchise in India have significantly dropped over the last 3 years. Costs associated with applying for an ISP license or buying wireless hardware/software have significantly dropped over the last 3 years. This makes it an excellent time to invest and start a WISP business in India.
The Model: Start a WISP business in India with less than ₹ 500,000
The following model is built in a way to serve a small city, township towns or villages in India. We have low-cost WISP business models was built over time and in a way that, even with as low as 100 customers per year, the WISP business set up would self-sustainable and marginally profitable.
Lets start estimating your average revenue per year to start WISP business in India with minimal profitability:
| if you have | & if each customer pays | for | your estimated revenue is | |||
| 100 | x | ₹500 | x | 12 | = | ₹600,000 |
| customers | per month | months | per year |
Estimated Revenue for 3 years: ₹ 18,00,000
Cost of bandwidth (a 155-200 mbps line is enough for the first 100-150 customers) is about 25,000/month.
Lets proceed by estimating your fixed one-time investment costs to start a WISP business in India:
1. ISP License associated costs (Optional)
| DoT costs | ₹42,000 | for a C class license (Inclusive of 60,000/- of Bank Guarantees) | payable to DoT |
| Consultancy fees | ₹50,000 | for ISP application assistance | payable to consultant |
| Total | ₹92,000 |
2. Infrastructure and set-up associated costs
| Base Station Server | ₹50,000 | manages your bulk bandwidth | payable to hardware supplier |
| Cabling, Towers & Access Points | ₹150,000 | for end-delivery for up to 125 customers. | payable to hardware & networking equipment supplier |
| Survey, Installation & Training | ₹70,000 approx. | fees paid to engineers for site survey, installation & training. | payable to your ISP networking consultant |
| Client end equipment | 3,000-4,500 per client | Equipment needed on the client side | payable to hardware supplier |
Lets proceed further by estimating your recurring costs to start a WISP business in India. These costs will occur monthly and can be removed from customer revenue.
| Buying Bulk Bandwidth | ₹225,000 per year | Depends on volume and area. | payable to ISP operator (We will help you buy bulk bandwidth from a local supplier) |
| WiFi Management Software | ₹20,000 per year | manages your users and lets your create Internet plans | payable to software vendor |
| Electricity | – | *assume costs for 2 computers that need to be always on | |
| Server Room / Office Space | – | *space required for 2 computer desktops | |
| Staff | – | *1 entry level candidate trained by our ISP consultant for sales/support | |
| Marketing | – | *brochures, business cards, banners, free wifi advertising | |
| Total | ₹270,000 per year |
Conclusion
Investment Stages to start a WISP business in India
| Phase A: | 30-120 days | Applying for an ISP License or finding the right partner agreement for ISP franchise | ₹90,000 (class C including consulting fees) |
| Phase B: | 3 days | Site Survey & Network Planning | ₹70,000 |
| Phase C: | 7 days | Hardware/Software Purchase & Installation | ₹300,000 |
| Phase D: | 7-10 days | Bandwidth Purchase | ₹25,000/month for 100-155 Mbps approx. |
| Start your WISP business in India within 3 months. | |||
Historic trends suggest that costs of hardware, software and bandwidth will reduce over time. In the next 4 years India will double its Internet population and quadruple its data demands.
We’ve planned this WISP business model in a way that – it would be easy for you to expand your customer capacity to 5000 without any server upgrades or major networking costs.
Contact us if you wish to start your own WISP business. (Click here)
