Broadband provider ACT Fibernet has introduced a 1 Gbps connection, with an eye on start-ups and small businesses, but concerns remain around consistence in experience and accessibility.

Bala Malladi, CEO, Atria Convergence Technologies, told BusinessLine that the attempt is to offer smaller businesses and homes the option of high-speed internet at attractive price points.

“A leased line costs ₹5 lakh and a lot of small-sized businesses cannot afford that,” he said. ACT is offering the 1 Gbps connection at ₹5,999. After the 1 Gbps gets exhausted, the speed reduces to 1 Mbps, according to ACT officials.

Syed Muqeem, who heads a start-up in Bengaluru, said that while the rates are cheaper when compared with leased lines, ensuring uptime will be one of the things that start-ups seek and none of the players seemed to have addressed it.

Customer concerns Abey Zachariah, co-founder and CEO, Goodbox, an m-commerce start-up, uses a leased line as that guarantees him constant connectivity. “Net connectivity is the backbone of a tech business. This is welcome, but we have to see whether the consistent net experience remains,” he added. On an average, start-ups like Goodbox spend almost five times that amount or ₹30,000 on internet.

ACT believes that with 7 per cent of India connected through wired broadband, there is still some room to grow. The company has launched these services in two of the 12 cities that it is present in. It currently has 1.25 million users in these cities, and 60 per cent of Bengaluru is covered through wired broadband, Malladi said.

One of the reasons for companies such as ACT to launch these kinds of broadband plans has to do with the increased requirements for broadband to consume entertainment as well as productivity apps.

Karnataka Minister for IT, Biotechnology, Science and Technology and Tourism Priyank Kharge and ACT plan to make Karnataka Assembly building Vidhana Soudha one of the first to be powered with 1 Gbps speed connectivity.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW