How To Become A Rural Internet Provider.
June 4, 2020 by ThySista
Filed under Business, Opinion, Tech/Internet, Weekly Columns
(ThySistas.com) There are literally thousands of different business startup ideas that you can consider. Each of them is rewarding, but if you’re thinking of doing something a little unusual, you may wish to consider becoming a rural Internet provider.
According to Statista, there are over 293 million Internet users in the United States. The sad truth is that Internet access isn’t universal; Internet penetration is only at 87.27%. Whole communities across the country have no Internet access.
The reason almost all of the country’s largest Internet providers haven’t made Internet access universal is purely down to money. They don’t believe it’s in their financial interests to offer provision to certain small villages and towns in the United States.
As a rural Internet provider, that is great news for you because you can gain from their lack of interest. You may wish to become an Internet provider for your community. Or you might want to enable Internet access for rural areas across the country.
In any case, this handy blog post will tell you all you need to know about setting up a new Internet provider business. Note that this article doesn’t cover general information related to setting up any business.
Research existing Internet provisions
So you’re thinking of providing Internet services in your community or to rural areas across the country. The first thing you must do is research existing Internet provisions. Why is that important, you ask yourself?
First of all, it helps you determine whether it’s cheaper to extend or enhance an existing service rather than set one up from scratch. Second, you have to determine whether the service you provide is viable for your customers.
While it’s noble of you to create such a valuable service to one or more rural areas, the service you offer must be affordable. For example, you can’t expect home users to pay $200 a month for their Internet access!
With that in mind, it makes to do your homework and research what’s already on offer. You may find it beneficial to look at a broadband market report for extra information.
Research connection methods and costs
Next, you’ll need to determine how much it will cost your business to provide Internet connectivity to one or more rural locations. There are several ways you could introduce Internet services, such as:
- Laying fiber lines from a neighboring town;
- Using satellite technology for bandwidth;
- Enabling unused TV frequencies (white space) for Internet bandwidth.
Once you have an idea of how much it’ll cost to introduce Internet access to an area, the next step is to establish how many residents and businesses will sign up for your Internet service.
You can use that information to determine how much to charge so you can make the service affordable yet still make a profit for your efforts.
Cut through the red tape
When you’re ready to bring forward your plans to offer Internet access to your local community (or others), there’s one more step to complete. You’ll have to get the okay from the local government before you can continue.
Usually, there won’t be any problems if you’ve laid out a comprehensive plan of how you are going to provide Internet access. The plan should, of course, contain information on where you wish to lay fiber cables or install satellite or radio towers.
Thanks for reading this article!
Staff Writer; Paula Brown
