Anyone wanting to set themselves up as an Internet service provider can do so relatively cheaply, thanks to wireless technology and Skyrove's slightly different take on selling Internet connectivity.
Skyrove provides Internet hotspot boxes for R595 to small businesses, such as coffee shop or bookshop owners, or even people sharing a house, like students.
These boxes allow people to hook into Skyrove as a wireless Internet service provider. The device simply plugs into the hotspot provider's ADSL network. Skyrove supplies the security and back-office co-ordination.
It should cost a Skyrove hotspot provider less than R1 000 to set up, including equipment and time.
Patrons, using their Wi-Fi-enabled cellphones, laptops or personal digital assistants, switch on their machines and bring up their Web browsers. They are then redirected to the website of the hotspot provider or outlet, which invites them to buy credits online to access the Internet, in the same way as cellphone companies sell prepaid airtime.
Skyrove hotspot outlets can set their own prices and customers can use their credits at any Skyrove outlet in SA or abroad.
So what's different from the existing set-up in which coffee shop franchises and hotels provide free Internet hotspots for their patrons?
Well, in the Skyrove case, shop owners are simply selling another commodity in addition to coffee and scones or books, and making money out of doing so. Customers pay only for the amount of data downloaded, not for the amount of time they spend online. They pay more for downloading movies but only a nominal amount for checking e-mails or chatting online.
Skyrove outlets make money for their owners, whereas free hotspot places have to offset their Internet costs through whatever it is they are selling. Skyrove benefits from the end users as well, because it retains a share of revenue from all traffic on its network.
As Skyrove CEO Henk Kleynhans puts it: "Most places that provide free hotspot services do so only because of the cost of implementing a billing system. A coffee shop owner signed up with M-Web or Internet Solutions will pay R5 500, plus monthly charges."
Skyrove enables small entrepreneurs to earn an income by sharing Internet access using Wi-Fi (wireless local area network) technology.
"Skyrove is not simply a unique and novel technology or business idea, but a vision of thousands of people becoming entrepreneurs and earning a living, particularly in the developing world," says Kleynhans.
He says 90% of new laptops are Wi-Fi-enabled and that conservative estimates put 2010 Wi-Fi cellphone sales at 136m.
Skyrove is finding the going tough on a shoestring budget but has signed up close on 250 hotspot outlets here and abroad since February. It is signing people up at a rate of three a day.
It believes the market is substantial and is focusing initially on the local market and the state of Texas in the US through one of its investors, SkyWi Inc. It is looking for additional partners to expand the US business and will consider partners or investors for the SA operation.
Kleynhans says that, unlike Skyrove's system, competitors' products do not allow end users to roam seamlessly between hotspots, but are tied into contracts or pay per use. He says the intellectual property of the system resides with Skyrove but that it has not been patented.
Also, because of SA Reserve Bank restrictions, Skyrove has to keep international and local operations distinct. A licensing system will be used to grow the business internationally and allow Skyrove to retain its share of operational revenue.
