Social Internet

Service Providers
The remedy for the three billion unconnected
Heikki Almay
9.11.2022
heikki@karugrid.com
Africa background
E-government, digitalization of education
and healthcare fail.

People cannot access the services.

Mobile devices exist - but data services are

not available or not affordable.

Radio spectrum underutilized.

Licensing and mobile network business

models serve lucrative areas.
Limitations of current approaches
Wifi with many active elements, poor reliability,
poor range.

New mobile operator licenses require:

• all essential telecom services
• population coverage => all serve same areas

Difficult business case. Capital intensive.

Social ISP
• Internet access using 3GPP ecosystem
• Involve communities
• Build coverage where needed
• Run software locally
• Works 24/7 on off-grid solar
• Provides electricity to the community
• Provides low-cost data service
• Profitable enough for growth and investors
Social ISP business model
corner stones
Authorities, enterprises and communities .

Data services only (Mifi boxes)

• Local services reducing load on the Internet link

Community hosted LTE small cell

• Build for demand, not for population coverage
• Community does site acquisition and 1st line
maintenance
Using consumerized
private LTE technology
Simple economic modelling
Full telco with LTE Social ISP

Aggressive network build for population Build for demand

coverage & competitive speeds
Complete core network with IMS etc. Data core only

Investment in retail channel and Start with anchor customers (B2B only)
marketing
BSS needed for prepaid from day one Light BSS later

Higher OPEX caused by bigger OPEX savings on community sites and

network and more complexity tier 1 maintenance.
Social ISP
Need to get a lot of subscribers for Pricing can remain simple as long as Full telco
covering cost. Differentiated plans => the service remains uniform.
additional BSS complexity.
Additional BSS and operational No roaming for social ISP SIMs. Cumulative cash flow
complexity for supporting roaming Social ISP
Full telco

High upfront investments (required by license terms or competitive

reasons) put an entrant that builds LTE into a difficult position.

The Social ISP requires less capital and utilizes assets more efficiently.
Active SIM cards
Boundary conditions for Social
Internet Service Providers
A Social ISP shall not distort the competition of
existing mobile operators but offer a complement for
the low ARPU market.
No telephone numbers, no voice calls / SMS.
Roaming restrictions.
Local low-cost frequency licenses: use or lose.
…or nation wide 20 or 40 MHz
- too little for competition with MNOs
- count PoPs instead of population coverage
Dear Santa,
I am a Social ISP, 3 years old. I do not intend to compete
with by elder brothers who are mobile operators. I just want to
offer data services for those who cannot afford them today.
I do not give these people telephone numbers, no voice calls
and no SMS service. I do not intend to support roaming -
only some limited mobility.
Could you give me reasonably priced local frequency licenses.
I do not want to cover a state or a country at once. Some square
kilometers to cover a village is enough. If you are afraid of
people reserving spectrum just for fun, I do not mind if you
include a use it or lose it scheme.
If that is too big a change to your plans you could set aside 20
or 40MHz of midband spectrum for the purpose. These days
that is too little to compete with the big boys.
One more wish. Please don’t make me build population
coverage. Instead count points of presents or the number of
people we connect to the Internet.
Best regards,
Heikki
The remedy for the three billion unconnected

1. Recognize that current players will not do the job

2. Open up the regulation
- frequencies, KPIs…
3. Create demand and get going
- connecting schools
- digitalize education
4. Build on the foundation
- healthcare
- administrative services