Rishav Chandra Choudhary, Fontech’s sales representative in SAARC
What’s your role at Fontech?
I represent Fontech in the SAARC region which includes India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. I’m based in New Delhi, India. Before joining Fontech, I gained a lot of experience in the technology sector selling CAS/DRM solutions to telecoms, DVB, IPTV, and OTT operators.
What can you tell us about the current WiFi ecosystem in the SAARC region?
There is huge potential for WiFi here! For example, India alone is expected to have almost one billion unique mobile subscribers by 2020, and has just overtaken China as the country with the highest mobile data consumption at over one billion GB per month!
Initiatives like the Indian government’s “100 Smart Cities” has led to millions in investments to improve the infrastructure and services in select cities. More generally, the number of public WiFi hotspots in the Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 59%, reaching the highest number of hotspots compared to other regions.
We’re also proud to say that we’re working with the national ITC solutions provider, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT Group), so that they can offer Community WiFi & WiFi On the Go to their subscribers so they enjoy WiFi connectivity out of the home, a very valuable added service!
What can Fontech offer the SAARC region?
The SAARC region is very densely populated and is experiencing skyrocketing data demands. So, operators have to meet this need and deal with network congestion cost effectively. Which brings us to WiFi Offload. Fontech’s Carrier WiFi Solution is perfect for those wanting to provide WiFi access based services and implement an offloading strategy as a natural next step. This solution is easily integrated into existing BSS/OSS systems and provides
all of the functionality needed for seamless WiFi-cellular interworking.
In addition to Offload, our Carrier WiFi Solution also unlocks a number of attractive use cases such as the ability to easily monetize WiFi networks – something that, until now, many operators have struggled with and has hindered the broad proliferation of WiFi deployments in certain countries, for example in India.
On the other hand, our Connectivity Experience Solution takes it to the next level by ensuring that customers get an always-best-connected experience by evaluating and determining the best connectivity option available in any given location in real time. This way users not only have the best possible experience, but traffic is moved seamlessly between WiFi and cellular networks without users having to intervene.
We’re very proud of the fact that the combination of these two solutions led Juniper Research to rank us as an “Established Leader” in their 2016 Mobile Data Offload report.
Many operators and business owners in the region, especially those in tourist-heavy countries like India or the Maldives, could also greatly benefit from our Guest WiFi Solution. This solution allows end customers to enjoy the connectivity they demand, under the specific business model and experience the business owner decides. Everything from the access method, monetization options, and even the look and feel of the captive portal can be centrally managed from a flexible, powerful, and intuitive web portal.
Get in touch to discuss how our powerful WiFi solutions can help you to achieve your business goals. And make sure you follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to be the first to know about exciting future announcements!