Is it your ambition to run an internet service provider company, potentially providing thousands of customers with internet access?

Business people and entrepreneurs across Africa now have the opportunity to set-up their own wireless internet service provider (ISP) business by becoming a Jenny Internet franchisee. The company’s networks and support services are available in all African countries.

Jenny Internet assists its franchisees in establishing successful wireless networks. The company currently has networks that span hundreds of kilometres over five provinces in South Africa. These networks provide both internet and telephone services. Users of the networks include farmers, mines, wildlife parks, businesses, low-income households and government institutions.

“There are a number of submarine fibre optic cables connecting into Africa right now. There is massive bandwidth all along the coast of Africa, but the problem is getting that bandwidth to the end users,” says Rolf Stucky, marketing director of Jenny Internet.

One of the major advantages of partnering with Jenny Internet is the relatively low cost involved in launching a network. “Starting up a telecoms business can cost millions of dollars. We can actually provide our franchisees with the services and equipment to do it at a very low cost,” says Stucky.

In addition, Jenny Internet also takes care of all billing and support services, allowing the franchisee to spend more time on high priority technical work instead of administration. “We do the technical setup and monitoring remotely. We have a web-based system to make the administration and billing of clients easy and automated,” says Stucky.

How does it work?

Franchisees are provided with full training and only need a basic networking and ICT background. A new Jenny Internet franchisee would typically set-up a network tower in the area that he/she wants to provide internet services to. Each tower has a range of up to 50 kilometres and franchisees can add as many towers as they wish.

Once the tower is up, the franchisee can begin marketing the service. Jenny Internet’s growing retailer network will assist the franchisee in signing up new internet customers. Each customer needs to buy a special aerial that points to the network tower. Once a new customer is up and running, Jenny Internet will handle all billing and administration duties remotely. Users can also direct all problems and queries to Jenny Internet’s centralised call centre, which is open seven days a week.

Case study

To highlight the potential, Stucky uses the example of one of Jenny Internet’s franchisees in South Africa’s North West Province. “Last year in April, one of our current franchisees contacted us, saying he wanted to provide internet and telephone services to farmers in his area, where there is no mobile coverage. He then built his first tower by converting an old windmill. We gave him all the systems to actually get the company running. Just over a year later, he has 22 towers and hundreds of customers on board.”