Broadband service provider Excitel will expand to the northeast region in the coming year as part of its comprehensive growth strategy. Recognising this market’s untapped potential and underserved nature, Vivek Raina, CEO, and Co-founder, said that they are keen to establish a strong presence in the region. Currently, it operates in 28 cities and has a customer base of 9 lakh people.

As of now, Patna is the farthest the start-up has been in the East, and from the next year onwards, it will plan to start in Assam and Mizoram, Raina told businessline.

“For this year, we are not planning to enter any new markets and want to focus on quality of the service and bundling more offerings for the customers.”

Its current offering includes three packages: a 200 Mbps, 300 Mbps, and 400 Mbps plan, and in the recent past, it has started offering OTT services with the packages. “We combine these services and speeds to provide cost-effective entertainment and communication solutions to the customers,” he explained.

Although the start-up competes with telecom majors Jio and Airtel in the fixed broadband space, according to a recent OOKLA report, it has established its dominance in fixed broadband, maintaining a consistent speed of over 200 Mbps across major cities. While both Jio and Airtel offer maximum speeds of 140 Mbps and 120 Mbps, respectively.

Also read: Bharti’s OneWeb plans satellite broadband services in India by September

Speaking of revenues, the company is growing at a rate of 30 per cent year on year both in terms of revenues and subscriber base and is on track to reach ₹500 crore and acquiring a consumer base of 1 million by this year-end, said the CEO. In FY23, the startup made an annual turnover of ₹400 crore.

“The era of broadcast television is rapidly fading away, as individuals now have the power to choose what they want to watch and when they want to watch it, primarily because of the advent of broadband,” stated Raina. Furthermore, the increasing prevalence of multi-screen usage within households is another driving force behind the demand for broadband.

Recognizing these trends, the company is actively leveraging them, aligning its strategies to become a prominent connectivity and content provider. “By capitalising on these evolving consumer preferences, the company aims to position itself as a leading player in the market,” he explained.

Regarding funding, the company plans to secure a new round of funding to support its upcoming geographic expansion. To date, the company has secured three rounds of investments totaling approximately €17 million , all from European investors. “The initial seed round amounted to €1.5 million, followed by a second round of €5 million. The most recent round of funding reached a substantial €10.5 million.”

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