Days of hobbyist ISPs are numbered

The Australian | February 21, 2011 | Andrew Colley
WITH fixed-line broadband penetration reaching saturation levels, iiNet chief Michael Malone says Australia’s ISPs need to get better at selling themselves if they want to survive the next decade.
He says that with “calls from the little guys” coming in daily it has become clear that the days of hobbyist ISPs are numbered and it will no longer be enough to have technical credentials.
“The last five years, if not longer, to be a successful ISP you had to be half-way competent and just ride the wave of customers moving from dial-up to broadband,” Malone says.
“I think things got a lot harder in 2010 and they’ll get even harder in 2011. You now have to be not just competent, you’ve got to really be outstanding in a lot of areas if you want to survive, let alone thrive”
Unless ISPs learn to get good at service, describing products to consumers and marketing their brands, he fears that experienced retailers will move in.
“I think there’s an opportunity for big brands to enter and to ultimately dominate,” he says, citing Woolworths’ recent foray into mobile SIM cards and the availability of white-label retail internet services in Britain.
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