Anyone with a million?

[fluppy]

I've got a million bucks...so can anyone tell me what stops twenty other people like me from getting together and starting our own ISP co and making a killing from it? Is there anything that stops me from buying internation bandwidth from any other company besides Telkom and would govenrment stop me if I did? I'm hoping to get big enough one day to lay my own cable across the ocean (he he)...then we'd be able to kick Tel****s fat ass. It's obvious that Eassy is just going to be another rape case like SAT3.

[fergus]

I've got a million bucks...
Theoritically or really?

[stoke]

ICASA will close you down as soon as you look like you are going to make a profit.

[fluppy]

Really...an I think the returns would be outrageous if only there is a way around the stranglehold. Luckily you don't know where I stay...this being SA and all :)

[fluppy]

So the picure looks like this then Stokies...no amount of money in the world could save the people of SA from doom and gloom (and capitalising on our low paying economy like the developing countries in the far east) because the 5 guys up there just won't let it be...what knobs.

[JStrike]

fluppy : You could buy bandwidth from IS. Rather start your own company doing that. Lay your own cable, set up sattelite links, and resell

[Clipse]

I've got a million bucks...so can anyone tell me what stops twenty other people like me from getting together and starting our own ISP co and making a killing from it? Is there anything that stops me from buying internation bandwidth from any other company besides Telkom and would govenrment stop me if I did? I'm hoping to get big enough one day to lay my own cable across the ocean (he he)...then we'd be able to kick Tel****s fat ass. It's obvious that Eassy is just going to be another rape case like SAT3.

The real question, when you kick telkom ass.. Would we, the community, have to kick your ass? What assurance is there that you wouldnt be greedy?

[fluppy]

@Clipse - cause I'm nice like that. Anyhow, I think the broadband market would grow exponentially once it is more affordable (just like in every other country). It would be easy (in my opinion and in a fairy tale world with all things being equal) to gain sufficient market share and thrive on that if you get in early enough. A good branding strategy (such a low low prices beacuse we care and we hate Telkom too) would entrench a trusting company's name into peoples heads before the others get in and...whalla. So anyone in?

[lucifir]

I'm with you fluppy ... now ... to get my hands on a million .... anyone feeling generous :D

[TheREV]

I don't have a spare million lying around doing nothing, but I could easily raise that for a sound business proposition - as could quite a few people, I am sure.

I think it could be a winner if there aren't too many "gotchas" in the way.

Fluppy - If you are serious, do some spade work and post a proper proposal - with all the sums - and you've got a go.

[Inertia]

Am I missing something here..? If it was so easy to take over the telecoms arena in SA with just a million bucks (not that much sorry to say), i'm sure it would of been done long ago.

Rather invest that money into something like real estate or pump it into the stock market (i don't take any liability for your actions).. Or just wait 3 - 5 years when the local loop is finally unbundled and you can (hopefully) enter a competetive and open telecoms enviromnent in SA.

Good luck- (btw don't take wot i jsut said very seriously, for all i know you could become the next Bill Gates)

[Glipsie]

Well, if it only cost a million bucks to lay a submarine cable I'm sure there'd be a lot more of them ;)

On SAT-3/WASC/SAFE:


Telkom initiated the $639 million, three-year process of laying the cable and setting up landing points. It contributed around $85 million to the project, but owns a proportionally larger 16% of the consortium that owns the cable, and will have access to a third of its capacity.

So thats about 4 billion for a cable? I can donate R20 ;P

Source: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/telecoms/2002/0205271141.asp?S=Telecoms&A=TEL&O=E

[Glipsie]

So I was bored and decided to do a few calculations.
If you owned a cable such as the SAT-3 and resold 1mbps (mega bits per second) for R2000/month (1-1). That would mean at full capacity:
R2000*(120 * 1024) = R245760000/month
245760000/5.97 = $41165829/month
639 000 000 / 41 165 829 = 15

So if you only had to pay for the cable, didn't have to pay for repairs, staff etc, then it would take you 15 months to cover your cost.

Values used:
120 = Maximum capacity of the cable after all upgrades
1024 = 1024 Mbps in 1 Gbps
5.97 = Current rand/dollar exchange rate accoring to nedbank.co.za

Of course this calculation has no meaning because:
1. The original capacity was only 20Gbps. It most likely cost them more to upgrade it.
2. Ultimate capacity is 120Gbps but when? 2030?
3. Connection fees to other networks?
4. Repair costs?
5. The cable is running at 100%

Still makes you wonder how they justify their current costs. Whats the cost of 1mbps 1-1 on SAT-3 these days? Last I checked it was in the region of R16000 for 1mbps 40-1 (with that, I get 1.8 months ;))

[mooK]

Keep in mind 1mbs works out to almost 300gb a month. Far above the average user.

EDIT: Oh yeah, that's just download, so like over 500gb.

[fluppy]

Yeah yeah...shoot me down you guys! Anyhow, I meant 20 other like minded people raking together 1mil bucks each. That makes 20..but this is still waaay below to capitalise on the desperate consumers. @theREV...I'm working on it...watch this space.

P.S. @Inertia...do you honestly think for even a blink of a second that SAs telecoms industry would become a fair (or even semi) playing field in your kids lifetime? If I'm wrong you could point fingers and laugh at me but at least I would have affordable broadband :)