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Comment by mildlyclassic | Hacker News Reader

>A small new player can't compete in either of those markets.

We're Wifidabba.com and we're in the current batch of YC. We provide low-cost internet in India at tea-stalls and bakeries. Consumers buy tokens and get access to wifi. In effect, we take a broadband connection and slice it into tiny pieces and sell that as wifi.

I guess in some ways we're an ISP, the government certainly thinks so, we've had to apply for an ISP license.

We're only a few months old, but we're reasonably profitable and the future looks good.

I think there's room for new ISP's if you're willing to be creative about how to grow the number of customers you want to reach. For example, we're getting tons of inquiries about being an IOT platform amongst other things.

*edited for clarity

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Your business plan is a bit different though, you charge on data.

While you are apparently cheap you'll still make more money per GB than an isp that tries to compete on the "Unlimited" plans.

Bingo :)

Reliance jio is providing 4g data almost for free in india why would i want to buy wifi as well ?

So this is something that surprised me as well, especially given we don't offer free plans or a trial.

When we spoke to our users they said the following: - Way faster than Jio (We offer 100mbps) - The price was so low that they didn't mind paying - They don't trust reliance and the ID process of getting a jio connection - It's so cheap and fits in their daily routine of getting chai, cigarette, etc.

Jio's 4G data isn't going to last forever. They are going to charge for it someday. Maybe from april, maybe from next year. But one day they will. Also Jio at some places is too slow still.

Hmm, went through your website and i like your idea.

What do you use for backhaul? chaiwalas and paanwalas aren't going to have network access in form of fiber or even cable on the street so i guess 4G hotspot? Also, Is there a way people can pay the stall owner some money and get a token from him? People here generally dont prefer online transactions.

We use the local isp and get a fibre line to the chai wallah. We help do the kyc, installation and whatever else is necessary.

Tokens are physical and work exactly the way you describe. Pay cash, get wifi.

this is mesh network, right? can you tell a bit about your technology?

It's a mesh built on low cost custom hardware. Each node is also super powerful with >128gb storage and some nice computation power, with a GPU to boot :) We're looking to be more than just an ISP in the long run.

For what value of "more than just an ISP"?

A sort of AWS style platform for retail. Eg. Are you building a POS or Inventory app or do you want to sell your online goods offline? You can access our merchants and authenticated users that already have a prepaid wallet and are at a retail location predisposed to buying. And because of our connectivity, you don't have to worry if your users have internet.

Or maybe an IOT platform of sorts, for example, you're an FMCG and you want to know that your shipments really did arrive at the location your distributor was supposed to deliver it.

India's a challenging country where > 80% of our retail is fragmented into millions of micro-stores.

So using the user's phone just for auth, akin to cards? Nice idea!

What do you need the GPU for? The box does not appear to have a display.

A distributed machine-learning network for some whatever reason :)

If you buy a cheap ARM SoC, there's a decent chance that you get a GPU "for free" (in the sense that chips without a GPU turn out to be more expensive).

The pricing looks super cheap. All the best.

We believe in charging for a good service. We don't ever want to show ads or mess with your connection in any way. thanks !

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