Friday, April 13, 2007

Broadband for $1 a month, SaaS and Flat World

I just returned from a two week India trip, and was once again amazed by the rate of change- or to be more precise the rate of change in the rate of change (acceleration). I attended an event hosted by TiE New Delhi where a speaker mentioned that the cost of broadband in India is Rs.200 (US$4.50) per month and that he was told by CEO of an Indian Telco that he can deliver broadband profitably for Rs. 50 (US$1) per month.
India: Loosely Coupled!

So, if you are living in Silicon Valley paying over $45 per month for broadband - get ready to compete with the Indian paying $1. This is a flat world except that it slopes East!

To a SaaS evangelist like myself, this also opens up the possiblity of selling a 'bundled software & connectivity' solution to businesses (SMB) that are not yet connected. You can go in and sell an accounting package or SFA (as a Service) including connectivity for $5 per month.

2 comments:

Anu said...

Its really amazing


SaaS

4:40 AM
Anonymous said...

There is no real 'braodband' in India. Telecom companies are charging around 900Rs for 256 kbps (16 KBps) per month, unlimited data plan.(that too with fair usage cap of around 10 GB per month).

A 1 mpbs connection, which hardly gives that performance, with monthly cap of around 40GB per month, will cost north of 4000Rs. This is quite a steep price for India.

3:14 AM

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