Solution Box is present in 12 countries in Latin America and works with local stock in each of them. In addition to operating in the capitals, the wholesaler puts special focus on visiting the countryside.
“We travel constantly to visit our customers who are far from big cities. We have been visiting many inland towns in Central America and The Caribbean, the countryside client is always grateful when one approaches,” shared Claudio Muñoz, Sales Director at Solution Box.
On these trips the wholesaler makes, they find many internet providers (ISPs) in areas where large companies do not make investments due to low population density. According to Muñoz, this is a business that has evolved a lot, but that continues to grow.
“One of our goals for this year is to continue the development of this market. That’s why we started traveling inland about 5 years ago, and this year we have a map of every country where we mark cities, suppliers, we know how many users they have, what technologies they use, where they are going, what products we have in stock to offer and how we train them in these new technologies. So far it has brought us very good results,” said the executive.
“It is important to understand that the problems in the countryside are not the same as those in the capitals. When you meet the customer, not only do you have more tools to sell, but he understands that we care about his business”
The ISP as a Solution Provider
Although there are large brands of internet providers in the region, many rural areas far from large cities are expensive to deploy a network infrastructure, considering that there are few inhabitants. It is in those places that small ISPs are located.
“When you go through the villages of the inland of any country, you will always find internet providers with 7000 users, for example, in places where you would never have gone, and this is 7000 computers on the roofs of houses, plus 7000 routers inside homes to give them WiFi, if the place is too big you need a repeater, and for that you have to sell the cables to connect them, the receiving antenna, the UPS so that that antenna never goes off, and the servers so that when the person wants to enter google has it stored so that it is faster. The business is huge,” explained the Sales Director at Solution Box.
Another factor that has driven the ISPs business is the fact that there is increasing demand for bandwidth. Currently, in most homes there are between 4 and 5 mobile devices connected to WiFi simultaneously, so it is necessary to have a strong connection, and optical fiber and GPON technology have played a fundamental role. In addition, the pandemic and hybrid work caused homes to need greater bandwidth to work in the same way as in a company.
“The internet provider today becomes a solution integrator, offers a storage, back up, the latest WiFi, up to a recorder so you can record programs on TV when you’re not at home”
In this context, the ISP becomes not only an internet provider, but also a solution provider. “Today the internet provider, both the guy and the big one, no longer only provides the internet and leaves, also ensures that you have WiFi coverage throughout your home, places an IP phone line in places where it is still required (such as hotel), and prioritizes video traffic”, Muñoz said.
And he concluded: “The internet provider sells you in the rural area the connection for the field you have, but since it is there it offers a system of sensors to tell you in real time if it will rain, static, if the land is wet and you do not need to turn on the irrigation systems, the level of water flow through these systems. Even if the years pass we will continue to bet to visit that client, in going inside and showing him new solutions”.
