Re: [WISPA] Sales Marketing of Unlicensed Wireless Services --Some Observations
Charles Wu wrote: I would disagree with you on the above statement IMO, I've found that the SMB service offering (e.g., sub-T1 to 3xT1) plans seem to be the most profitable (highest margin) opportunities available Once you get to carrier services (e.g., 10+ Mb) -- the big guys start to take notice and completely drop their pants You can disagree with the statement, but you should accept that it is true in our case. -Matt -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] Sales Marketing of Unlicensed Wireless Services -- Some Observations
We have observed the following: It is easier to explain wireless after the fact then to sell wireless itself. In other words, we sell a service that provides X amount of internet access and Y phone lines that we just happen to deliver wirelessly. Once a customer is sold on the value of the service it is easy to explain the benefits of fixed wireless over copper. Our T1 price is lower than the rest of the market, but it is easier and more profitable to sell 3Mbps at the market price of a T1 then to sell our lower priced T1 service. Generally speaking, we have found the cost/time to sell a customer is the same no matter how large the service delivered is. In other words, it takes just as long to sell a DS3 as it does a T1 even though the DS3 is significantly more profitable. All of the above means that while we are a seemingly large WISP, we don't have that many customers; our ARPU is just very high. -Matt Charles Wu wrote: Generally, we end up debating all day and all night on the lists of what's the best radio or who's got those cool blue lights -- however, FWIW, I've noticed that there seldom is any debate on useful topics like sales marketing (especially of the product positioning of license-exempt wireless) Do we call it wDSL? Wireless? More than Wifi? WiMAX? -- who knows? But fuel the fire with a few observations - rant - ARPU is an acronym for the Average Revenue per User. This is the average revenue factored across all customers as if each were charged the same price -- with some customers charged less and others more. Customer type usually determines price. In addition, a Network Operator's valuation is a direct multiple of its ARPU. The Marginal Recurring Cost (MRC) as compared to its Service Level / Marginal Recurring Revenue (MRR) of delivering the following license-exempt broadband wireless WiMAX connections have been calculated as follows: Broadband Lite Residential Service (512 / 512 Kb Burstable) MRR: $24.95 MRC: $20 Best Effort Residential Service (5 Mb / 512 Kb Burstable) MRR: $39.95 MRC: $20 Best Effort Business Class Service (5 Mb / 1 Mb Burstable) MRR: $149.95 MRC: $25 Dedicated Business Class Service (5 Mb / 3 Mb Burstable) (1 Mb / 1 Mb Dedicated) MRR: $249.95 MRC: $30 Dedicated Business SLA Service (5 Mb / 3 Mb Burstable) (3 Mb / 3 Mb Dedicated) MRR: $449.95 MRC: $40 Looking at the numbers, it's obvious that a higher ARPU increases the overall health of the bottom line. Interestingly enough, all the following service plans are achieved using the EXACT SAME license-exempt broadband wireless access technology. So why is the differentiating factor that allows some WISPs to sell that Canopy/Trango/Alvarion/whatever last mile connection for $300+ month ARPU while other can barely get $30 / month ARPU? IT'S OBVIOUSLY MORE THAN JUST TECHNOLOGY... - rant - -Charles -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
RE: [WISPA] Sales Marketing of Unlicensed Wireless Services --Some Observations
snip Generally speaking, we have found the cost/time to sell a customer is the same no matter how large the service delivered is. In other words, it takes just as long to sell a DS3 as it does a T1 even though the DS3 is significantly more profitable. /snip Hi Matt, I would disagree with you on the above statement IMO, I've found that the SMB service offering (e.g., sub-T1 to 3xT1) plans seem to be the most profitable (highest margin) opportunities available Once you get to carrier services (e.g., 10+ Mb) -- the big guys start to take notice and completely drop their pants -Charles --- WiNOG Austin, TX March 13-15, 2006 http://www.winog.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matt Liotta Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 5:03 PM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Sales Marketing of Unlicensed Wireless Services --Some Observations We have observed the following: It is easier to explain wireless after the fact then to sell wireless itself. In other words, we sell a service that provides X amount of internet access and Y phone lines that we just happen to deliver wirelessly. Once a customer is sold on the value of the service it is easy to explain the benefits of fixed wireless over copper. Our T1 price is lower than the rest of the market, but it is easier and more profitable to sell 3Mbps at the market price of a T1 then to sell our lower priced T1 service. All of the above means that while we are a seemingly large WISP, we don't have that many customers; our ARPU is just very high. -Matt Charles Wu wrote: Generally, we end up debating all day and all night on the lists of what's the best radio or who's got those cool blue lights -- however, FWIW, I've noticed that there seldom is any debate on useful topics like sales marketing (especially of the product positioning of license-exempt wireless) Do we call it wDSL? Wireless? More than Wifi? WiMAX? -- who knows? But fuel the fire with a few observations - rant - ARPU is an acronym for the Average Revenue per User. This is the average revenue factored across all customers as if each were charged the same price -- with some customers charged less and others more. Customer type usually determines price. In addition, a Network Operator's valuation is a direct multiple of its ARPU. The Marginal Recurring Cost (MRC) as compared to its Service Level / Marginal Recurring Revenue (MRR) of delivering the following license-exempt broadband wireless WiMAX connections have been calculated as follows: Broadband Lite Residential Service (512 / 512 Kb Burstable) MRR: $24.95 MRC: $20 Best Effort Residential Service (5 Mb / 512 Kb Burstable) MRR: $39.95 MRC: $20 Best Effort Business Class Service (5 Mb / 1 Mb Burstable) MRR: $149.95 MRC: $25 Dedicated Business Class Service (5 Mb / 3 Mb Burstable) (1 Mb / 1 Mb Dedicated) MRR: $249.95 MRC: $30 Dedicated Business SLA Service (5 Mb / 3 Mb Burstable) (3 Mb / 3 Mb Dedicated) MRR: $449.95 MRC: $40 Looking at the numbers, it's obvious that a higher ARPU increases the overall health of the bottom line. Interestingly enough, all the following service plans are achieved using the EXACT SAME license-exempt broadband wireless access technology. So why is the differentiating factor that allows some WISPs to sell that Canopy/Trango/Alvarion/whatever last mile connection for $300+ month ARPU while other can barely get $30 / month ARPU? IT'S OBVIOUSLY MORE THAN JUST TECHNOLOGY... - rant - -Charles -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
