First of all, a person must have experience in this area, since the telecommunications market is technically complex, and the communications industry is very seriously checked by the supervisory authorities, especially in the light of the latest anti-terrorist changes in the legislation.
Those who want to start their business in the telecommunications market should understand that they have to work in conditions of high competition, have «long» investments and do not expect profits for the first 5-6 years.
Ildar Nurgaleyev, general director of the Kazan branch of Ufanet JSC (Kazgorset), told how to become a successful provider, portal BIBOSS.
Where to start?
But even after working for some years at the telecom company in a hired position, you will not get a complete picture of the market, as it is quite closed to outsiders. The telecommunication market is well-established, and it’s getting heavier every year. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a serious study, especially if you go to a large city and want to start immediately with a large scale. If the city is small, perhaps the one in which you were born, where you are personally acquainted with many, you can try to start your own business without research, at random.
Before starting to work in Kazan in 2012, we spent half a year marketing research. I myself studied with a communications specialist, and since 2003 I have worked continuously in the communications, Internet, television. When I visited Kazan, I already had eight years of experience, including with the legislation in the field of communications.
Another important point is that you have to form a team from the very beginning that will work with you. In a large business, there is nothing to do without a team. The team of the «Kazan City Network» once worked in Bashkortostan, from the Internet provider «Ufanet», we grew up there and got experience. The Kazan market is very interesting, having studied it, we decided to organize a new company here. I visited Kazan, I was impressed by its appearance, it was amazing that the city is powerful in terms of IT, there is a good school of programmers here, but the provision of communication services is not at the proper level in terms of service, availability, speed. Any large city could become a place we could come to. But Kazan had not only a desire, but also an opportunity to receive better communication services.
Target audience will be both physical and legal persons. Everyone needs the Internet, many need television. The main thing is to understand that you will give each category of customers, and why they will choose your services. However, at the initial stage, you can stay only on one segment – to provide services only to television, only the Internet or only telephony.
Investment size
To go to a city with a population of 400 thousand people, it will take at least 500 million rubles. But these funds are only intended for entry: for the construction of networks, the lease of a data center, the lease of an office. We must understand that the investment will pay off for a long time – at least 5-6 years. To the point of «zero» you can go out after two years.
Everything will depend on the team, on how you can manage the money. Within the next two years, you will only have to invest in a business, not expecting a return. Invest in the costs of technical development, rent, salaries to employees.
To understand how high the competition is in the market, it is enough to see how many companies in the city provide similar services. The main competitive advantage today can only be quality. Naturally, in order to work qualitatively, you will need additional expenses.
Ildar Nurgaleev, General Director of the Kazan branch of Ufanet JSC (Kazgorset)
To build a broadband network in the house, by law, the company must collect 2/3 of the votes of the residents of the house. And at the very beginning we used this moment also for our advertising purposes – as a pre-sale of our services. In the future, advertised using traditional channels – advertising on the Internet, in the media, ads on the entrances.
Where can I find funds for launching? It all depends on the person. What exits, dating and experience do you have? You can take a loan from a bank, but you will need a pledge and a strong business plan, while the money will be very expensive. It is best to find partners, investors who will invest in the opening of the company and will support it until it reaches the «zero» point.
The majority of current expenses are paid to employees. The network needs to be serviced around the clock, so it requires a lot of professional staff, high-tech engineers. Optimize costs can be deepened in the theme of lean manufacturing. The hero of this article advises to study Jeffrey Laiker’s famous book «Dao Toyota. 14 principles of management of the world’s leading company. » He also recommends the books of the famous Edward Deming, an American scientist, statistician and management consultant.
Step-by-step instruction
From the very beginning, you will have to establish relationships with counterparties and suppliers. First, in order to build a network, it is necessary that it be produced and installed. That is, you need to go to the manufacturers of network equipment, materials for construction. Also, you will have to cooperate with higher-level providers that sell Internet to telecommunications companies, as well as with TV channels, broadcasters. Also, most likely, you will need to rent equipment in the data center and maintain a relationship with the owner of the premises and equipment.
You need to choose the best quality equipment. I would advise you to go to other regions, find local operators, meet with them and find out about suppliers. I would visit several regional operators. They will not be difficult to share information with you. You can access them through business associations.
But still you should already have some experience and understanding of technology and the market. When we started, I already had experience, I practically had contact with all suppliers and understood with whom I would work. There were many proposals, we all considered, and even, as far as I remember, in 2012, refused the services of a major supplier in favor of the newcomer and did not lose. Moved and by trial and error: try a test batch of equipment, see how they delivered, what kind of tech support they provided.
How to promote the company? The market for telecom operators is massive, so different types of advertising are needed, designed for different segments of the population – for young people in social networks, and for pensioners on benches. Kazgorev stopped at the following channels: Internet resources for the youth audience, social projects for middle-aged people with children, announcements on the entrances for everyone and especially for the elderly.
30% of subscribers come to us with the help of «word of mouth». Now advertising takes less than 1% of the budget. However, a fairly decent budget is spent on social advertising. First of all, we are the organizers of major city holidays. For example, for the holiday «Children – our future», which takes place in early September, we are preparing for three months. We spend holidays of a court yard, sports days, this summer we arranged in the courtyards film show, showed old Soviet films on the big screens under the open air, many people gathered.
What kind of staff do you need to work? First, those who will build and determine the logic of the network (technology, engineers). Secondly, those who will sell the company’s services. It’s hard to say how much everything a person needs – everything depends on the city in which you started the business and with what investments. In principle, you can start with the nearest team – 2-3 people. If you are targeting individuals, then you will need more people in the sales department. If legal entities, then people-sellers will need less, but they need to be more professional. The hero of our article advises: the less in the state at the initial stage of people working with papers, the better; The more people on outsourcing – managers, lawyers, accountant – the better. But it all depends on your ambitions. If you plan in half a year to serve 20-30 thousand apartments,
From the very beginning, we set the goal to recruit 500 people to the company. Candidates are subject to rigorous selection. This applies to vacancies of any level. At the first stage with the person interviews the team – I, the head of the department, the specialist of the personnel department and one of the heads of the accompanying service. After each meeting, we discuss the candidate’s data together. Then there is a probationary period.
When recruiting employees, the first thing I pay attention to – a person must want to work. Personal qualities and knowledge are important. Knowledge is easy to verify. And personal qualities … I will say a terrible thing, but we trust our feelings – how much the person liked. During the second stage we compare our feelings.
We attract employees to work in their company with respect to people and customers. Our motto: friends are always with you. Approach in terms of quality: you can stay at work to provide the client with a better service. If the employee does not like this, we part. But most often employees understand: to them exactly the same attitude as to customers. This is also expressed in the openness: any employee with a question can come to my office.
Organizing the work of the company, consider three points. First, network maintenance should be round the clock. For this, people who will carry out emergency and planned night work are needed. Secondly, sales managers should work with clients during those hours when the latter is most convenient: in the evening on weekdays, at weekends. Third – for office workers, you can choose any convenient schedule – from 8 to 17 or from 9 to 18 hours.
Ildar Nurgaleyev believes that the traditional monetary system of discounts in this type of business does not work. It makes sense to provide customers free of charge some kind of services, technical assistance, assistance in repairing gadgets and computers. For example, Kazgorset established its service club, where all customers have access to a list of free additional services.
A place
Where is it better to open? The location does not play an important role for this type of business. If the network is built on its own data center, it is best to place the office in the same data center. If the data center is rented, then the office can be located anywhere, but it is desirable that at this point it is possible to connect to your own network so that you can use its capacities outside of another operator. At the same time, customer zones, sales offices are best placed in places with high traffic.
There are no supernatural demands on the office premises. It can be small, especially considering that for «cold» and «hot» calls you can hire employees for outsourcing. The hero of our article recommends renting an office space – then you will not have a headache with installing a fire alarm in accordance with applicable law and so on.
If you are building your own data center, then you will have to meet a number of requirements prescribed in the legislation. But in the case of leasing, all this is already taken into account by the owner of the data center.
Documentation
To get started, you need to get a license through Roskomnadzor – an inspecting and regulatory body in the communications industry. And for each service a separate license is issued: Internet – two, cable TV – several. Then you need to prepare the data center for work and get approval from Roskomnadzor experts. The next step is that the prepared communication network should be tested by the FSB. Without acceptance of the communications network in the Federal Security Service, Roskomnadzor will not sign the act. The network must comply with the technical regulations prescribed in the regulations and laws. The main law regulating this branch is the Federal Law «On Communications».
Obtaining a license will take about a month. The amount of time to prepare the network and get the rest of the permits depends on your promptness. On average, we can talk about six months.
Check-list of opening
- The analysis of the market and competitors (assortment, prices, demand, personnel, etc.),
- Choosing a niche,
- Obtaining a license,
- Searching for suppliers and building a network,
- Building your own data center or renting a ready,
- Obtaining permission from the FSB,
- Looking for a space for renting an office, concluding a lease,
- Registration LLC, registration with the tax inspection,
- Search for colleagues,
- Interviewing, selection of candidates,
- Employee training,
- Development of an advertising campaign for the opening,
- Development of shares, discounts and other marketing activities,
- Festive opening.
Is it profitable to open
Market research conducted by you at the very beginning of the activity will tell you what value of your services will be optimal for the local market.
The prices for services of telecom operators are low now, because the market is very competitive. Given that this business is risky and investments in it pay off for a long time, it is difficult to talk about profitability.
To win the market, you have to dump. Be prepared for the fact that in the first years you will only have to invest in the company and not receive any income.
However, in two years you can go to the point of «zero». This will depend on the capacity of the network built and the number of subscribers. As the hero of our article points out, break-even points can be reached when penetration reaches 10%, that is, when out of 10 thousand apartments built, one thousand apartments will become your customers.
Within five years we have worked several tranches of investment. Therefore, we can not say whether we paid off today or not.
What options for increasing profits exist? The main thing is to increase the efficiency of work, rational distribution of duties, that is, more functions per unit of employees. The goal is to increase the amount of work twice, you only needed 1.5 times more employees.
The main risk in this business is to spoil relations with subscribers. Despite the widespread opinion that neighbors in urban high-rise buildings do not communicate with each other, if one subscriber turns out to be dissatisfied with you, no one else will come to you from this house, says Ildar Nurgaleev. Once you do a disservice, you will immediately feel the outflow of subscribers. Because the competition in the market is high, and people easily go to another operator.
The factor of seasonality also affects this type of business. In late summer and autumn – high season. At this time, people spend more time at home and need Internet and television services, students come. In late spring and summer – low season, many suspend services, leaving the city.
Any business consists only of pitfalls. To long work in the market, you need a wild desire, a team, leadership, the ability to make decisions under stressful conditions. And also need to understand the technical aspects. Because it’s technically easy to make a lot of mistakes. Education at the head can be any, but he will still need to delve into the specifics of the work.
