Vanu sells products and services that enable mobile network operators to profitably serve rural markets, unlocking new revenue potential for operators and providing the benefits of connectivity for people who have been unserved until now.

Our Approach

The challenge to providing coverage in rural areas is an economic one:  rural areas are more expensive to serve and have fewer people and, therefore, less revenue to offer.  The Vanu solution allows mobile network operators to serve markets that previously could not be served sustainably.  Our typical deployment strategy is to use small, lower cost sites to focus coverage where people need it most:  where they live and work.  We offer our services in collaboration with existing mobile network operators through roaming agreements.  This allows existing operators to extend their coverage through our network and, allows their subscribers to get service from our network with their existing handsets and SIM cards.

Value Proposition

The primary challenge in extending wireless broadband coverage to rural areas in developing markets is economics. The revenue in rural per site is lower due to lower incomes and sparse population, while the cost of running the sites is higher due to the need to run diesel on off-grid sites and poor backhaul options.  Lowering network operating costs is essential to achieving the goal of universal coverage.

Vanu addresses the problem by combining innovative technology with an innovative business model in three aspects:

  1. We build wholesale wireless networks, so we do not have subscribers, but work in partnership with existing carriers;
  2. We eliminate the cost, security, and environmental problems of diesel, with industry-leading efficiency and lowest power consumption base station, which consumes on average 60 watts of power while transmitting two 10 watts channels enabling operation on only solar energy and battery storage;
  3. Using small cell technologies, we focus coverage where people live and work.

Combined, these factors lead to different network designs that achieve high levels of network access with operating expenses low enough to enable sustainable coverage despite comparatively low population densities and low revenue per user.