5 ways smaller ISPs can compete without building the infrastructure

It’s never been easy for the little guy — starting up, expanding and staying competitive. This is true in all industries, including for smaller internet service providers (ISPs). You’re competing with big organizations who have the budgets, established infrastructure and partnerships.

Smaller enterprises have traditionally had to invest millions just to get off the ground and start building the network they need to compete. And adding services or tailoring solutions to niche market needs, as is often the case in South Africa, doesn’t come cheap either.

Ready-made or built your own way

Global network providers didn’t make it any easier. In the past, smaller ISPs were painted into something of a corner. Partnering with bigger organizations usually meant buying a packaged solution — with predetermined services, a fixed pricing model and no room to adapt the offering. They could put their name on the service, but making it their own was a lot more difficult.

I like to use a “baking a cake” analogy. In the past, you had no choice but to buy a premade cake, put your label on it and resell it. Not ideal when you want to cater to your customers’ specific needs. Things are a little different now, although that’s somewhat of an understatement because the difference is, in fact, significant.

Smaller ISPs now have a choice. You no longer have to buy the whole cake exactly as it’s sold. Instead, you can choose the ingredients you need — based on the customers you serve, the services you want to offer and the market you’re targeting — and create something unique.

How to grow without building everything yourself

The cake analogy might seem simple, but it works. Once you can choose the ingredients, you aren’t limited to what someone else thinks your customers need. You decide what goes in, what stays out and what makes your offering different.

Here are five ways smaller ISPs can achieve this with the help of a global network provider:

1. Cut upfront costs

Building a network from scratch is an expensive, long-term commitment. Infrastructure, global connectivity, specialist skills and ongoing maintenance are costly. By partnering with a global network provider, smaller ISPs get access to all that without having to carry the cost themselves.

2. Build something that’s your own

South Africa has large rural communities that rely on connectivity but don’t always have access to the services they need. Smaller ISPs often step in to fill that gap. Now that they can pick and choose the services that make sense for the communities they serve, whether that’s a rural town with limited connectivity or a niche market such as gamers who demand low latency.

It also makes it easier to expand their offerings over time. Instead of investing in every new technology themselves, they can introduce new services as their customers need them.

3. Give your customers a better experience

Customers don’t care how the network works. They want football streams that don’t buffer, WhatsApp calls that don’t drop and online games that don't lag. Larger network providers invest heavily in the infrastructure, content delivery networks and global connectivity that make these experiences possible. They also build resilient networks with multiple routes and failover mechanisms to keep customers connected when things don’t go according to plan. Smaller ISPs get to pass those benefits on to their customers without having to build everything themselves.

4. Grow at your own pace

Demand is not always the same. Some months can be slow, while others, like football season, put much more pressure on the network. Partnering with a global network provider gives smaller ISPs the flexibility to scale as the business grows. There’s no need to invest in infrastructure years before it’s needed or pay for capacity that’s sitting idle.

5. Build your business, not your network

Running an ISP takes more than a network. There’s monitoring, troubleshooting, routing and everything else that happens behind the scenes. By leaving the heavy lifting to a global network provider, smaller ISPs can focus on what they do best: Supporting their customers, building their business and finding opportunities to grow.

A good cake starts with the right ingredients

NTT DATA isn’t trying to build the next big ISP. You are.

Our job is to provide the foundation: a global network, the right partnerships, the expertise that comes from building and running networks at scale, and — most importantly — the flexibility to let you build what’s right for your business.

Every ISP has a different story. Some are connecting smaller communities; others build specialist offerings for customers with specific needs. Whatever the goal, your customers should know your brand, not ours. That's why we’ve built our ISP-as-a-Service (ISPaaS) offering around flexibility, giving you the freedom to grow your business your way.

We simply provide the ingredients. What you create with them is up to you.

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