Connecting the Unconnected – Taking the Network Paradigm to the Last Mile

The mobile market experienced a huge growth surge in the recent times across the globe. However, there is still a struggle for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to extend their coverage to remote areas due to the lack of infrastructure. The average mobile penetration worldwide in 2016 was 115.50% meaning that there are more subscriptions than people. But there are demographics which remain untapped in the global market: there are billions of potential customers in remote regions who live beyond the reach of mobile connectivity. The small population base and low income generating occupation are restricting telecom operators from making any kind of investments in these outlying destinations.

Until some time in the recent past, operators were not eager to reach the rural subscribers due to these two reasons: (1) Operators could not justify the cost and time involved in rolling out the conventional infrastructure; and (2) the projected ARPU – Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) was very low, around 4% in the year 2016 in countries like Benin, Gambia, Niger, Senegal. But as the urban markets started reaching saturation and regulations required mobile operators to provide a universal service level everywhere, the remote areas like the Marshall Islands, Fiji, Senegal, Benin, Niger & others then became the final frontier for continued growth. Operators and carriers are now lending a helping hand and making large investments to boost the connectivity services in these far away areas. These investments have surged the traffic from both local residents and holiday makers in these remote paradises. Somalia itself experienced an increase of more than 30% increase in penetration level from 69.57% in 2014 to 101.39% in 2016.

Bankai Group is determined to helping the local operators in the USA and Rest of the World connect these hard to reach locations for the benefit of their enterprise and domestic customers. Bankai carries the majority of Inbound traffic to these destinations and also we are the primary carrier of outbound traffic for maximum operators in these areas. We have established Directs in niche destinations like Marshall Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Benin, PNG and more. We aggregate the traffic from the USA & other countries of the world and distributes it to these remote destinations.

Bankai Group as the risk bearer expands the reach of the operators to smaller traffic areas, offering high marginal traffic at low credit risk. On the other hand, for the operator in remote destinations, we implemented a technology platform with scalable & modular architecture for carrier grade reliability & fault tolerance. Hence, we overcame one of the biggest challenges of providing a viable solution with minimum Capex and Opex for various ethnic groups residing in these areas.

The carrier’s carrier Bankai is connecting the connectively resting part of the world with the ROW – Rest of the World. Our carrier solutions have great potential to ensure seamless connectivity across isolated nations, landlocked countries and other challenging regions in Africa, Oceania, Latin America and Asia.