1. The Unconnected Population: A Massive Opportunity
Currently, about 3.4 billion people, or nearly half of the global population, still lack access to the internet. Many of these individuals live in rural, underserved regions, often in developing countries, where the combination of lack of infrastructure, energy scarcity, and environmental challenges (such as extreme heat) makes it difficult to deploy and maintain traditional network infrastructure. This presents a massive untapped market for telecom providers.
Barriers to Connectivity:
- Lack of Infrastructure: In many regions, there are few, if any, reliable cell towers, fiber-optic cables, or power grids to support robust internet connectivity.
- Harsh Environments: Extreme heat and lack of shelter deter people from gathering in open spaces or using technology outdoors.
- Cost of Data: For many, the cost of data remains prohibitively expensive, particularly where incomes are low.
2. Sun Shade Nets as a Catalyst for Connectivity
In this context, sun shade nets could play a significant role in creating more usable spaces for internet access, especially in outdoor areas where heat and harsh environmental conditions limit people’s ability to spend time using digital services. Here’s how sun shade nets, combined with internet flywheel hotspots, could potentially have a greater impact on telecom revenues than even cutting-edge technologies like the Apple Vision Pro:
Creation of Comfortable Public Spaces
- Community Hotspots: In underserved areas, setting up public internet access points or Wi-Fi hotspots under shaded areas could significantly increase the time people spend online. By making the internet more physically accessible and creating comfortable, shaded areas for community interaction, telecom companies could tap into a new demographic of users who otherwise lack reliable internet access.
- Rural Digital Hubs: Imagine small towns or rural communities equipped with shaded digital hubs where people gather to use the internet, either for entertainment, education, or business. These hubs could also serve as telecom service points, allowing telecom companies to sell data packages, prepaid plans, and devices like smartphones and tablets. It also creates opportunities for new business models tailored to these environments. One such approach is the Previsions M-Sari predictive flywheel model.
Increase in Data Consumption
- Underutilized Market: The unconnected population, once provided with internet access, could consume significant amounts of data. In many cases, this population is hungry for information, entertainment, and educational resources. A comfortable, shaded environment equipped with free or low-cost Wi-Fi could lead to a dramatic increase in data usage.
- Mobile Connectivity in Public Spaces: For people who do not have access to stable electricity or personal devices like laptops, public Wi-Fi under shade nets could be accessed through affordable mobile devices. This would open up a new revenue stream for telecom operators as they provide data plans or offer device-financing programs.
Social and Economic Empowerment
- Empowerment through Connectivity: Once connected, people in rural and underserved regions are likely to use the internet not just for social media and entertainment but also for education, healthcare, e-commerce, and local business development. These activities further drive up data usage and provide telecom companies with new opportunities to offer specialized data services or partnerships with local enterprises.
Sustainable, Low-Cost Infrastructure
- Low-Cost Implementation: Compared to building large, permanent structures or deploying advanced AR/VR systems, sun shade nets represent a low-cost, easily scalable solution to the problem of creating usable public spaces in underserved regions. Telecom companies could partner with governments or NGOs to establish community hubs under sun shade nets, equipped with solar-powered internet kiosks, ensuring sustainable energy usage while providing essential connectivity.
3. Impact on Telecom Revenues from Shade Nets vs. Apple Vision Pro
Let’s consider why sun shade nets and internet hotspots could potentially have a larger, more immediate impact on telecom revenues compared to something like the Apple Vision Pro:
- The Apple Vision Pro is a premium product targeting a high-end, niche market, likely in developed regions. By contrast, shade nets with internet hotspots would target a far larger and untapped population, providing them with their first access to the internet. This population, with little existing access to the internet, represents hundreds of millions of potential new customers for telecom companies.
- The sheer size of this market, combined with their potential appetite for digital content, could result in substantial revenue growth for telecom operators as these new users begin to consume large amounts of data.
- The cost of providing connectivity through public Wi-Fi hotspots under shade nets is far lower than rolling out high-end AR/VR systems like the Apple Vision Pro. Sun shade nets and community hotspots could be deployed quickly, especially in developing regions, making them an economically viable option for telecom companies and governments alike.
- With lower costs to deploy, telecom companies could still generate significant profits by monetizing data services, content partnerships, or even through ad-supported models.
Capturing New Data-Intensive Use Cases
- Once connected, this population will likely consume data at high rates, especially for video content, social media, and messaging platforms. Telecom operators could develop local content partnerships, offer streaming services, or create targeted data packages. These new users could consume more data, creating opportunities for telecom companies to upscale their services as demand grows.
- Additionally, public Wi-Fi hubs could drive the adoption of smartphones, further increasing telecom revenue from both device sales and data usage.
4. Long-Term Impact and Evolution of the Industry
In the long run, the widespread adoption of sun shade nets with internet access in rural and underserved regions could:
- Bridge the digital divide, enabling millions of people to access the internet for the first time, thereby expanding telecom’s customer base.
- Encourage economic development in these regions, leading to increased spending on digital services, further driving up demand for telecom infrastructure and data services.
- Allow telecom companies to play a pivotal role in digital inclusion, working alongside governments and international organizations to establish a presence in areas that were previously unconnected.
Meanwhile, while the Apple Vision Pro and similar technologies will likely lead to increased demand for high-speed data and next-gen networks like 6G in wealthier markets, their impact may remain limited to specific regions and demographics for some time.
In conclusion, the widespread adoption of sun shade nets combined with internet hotspots could indeed have a greater impact on telecom revenues than high-end technologies like the Apple Vision Pro, especially in the context of the unconnected global population. By providing internet access to billions of people in underserved regions, telecom companies could tap into a vast new market and unlock significant growth opportunities, driven by increased data consumption and community-based connectivity solutions. This approach could ultimately drive larger-scale revenue growth, particularly as it aligns with broader goals of digital inclusion and sustainable development. t also creates opportunities for new business models tailored to these environments. Previsions with its innovative M-Sari predictive flywheel concept is one such approach. The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed yet.
