The CEO and co-founder of Excitel, Vivek Raina, said in an exclusive interview with The Hans India that the internet provider has established a strong foothold in Hyderabad, where there is a notable surge in demand for regional OTT content. The firm is currently working to expand its presence in additional significant southern cities as part of its strategic expansion strategy. Mr. Vivek discusses the company’s strategy for overcoming fierce competition in the industry and positions Hyderabad as a major center for South India. Along with its ambitious intentions to develop fiber infrastructure throughout these crucial areas, he also describes Excitel’s distinct value offer in comparison to other telecom companies.

Vivek Raina, Excitel Broadband’s CEO and co-founder

Concerning Excitel With over ten million users in more than fifty locations, Excitel is the most popular streaming service and the fastest-growing broadband network in India. Excitel has been driving the deployment of fiber-to-home networks in India and transforming broadband services since its founding in September 2015. Additionally, Excitel was the first ISP to provide really unlimited data plans, which let users access limitless data at the claimed speed without any restrictions. Excitel is one of the fastest and best-rated broadband networks in India, according to Ookla and the Open Signal. The business is ranked among India’s Top 3 ISPs by TRAI.

What expansion goals does Excitel have for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh?

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are important components of Excitel’s aim to provide as many houses as possible with dependable, top-notch high-speed fiber to home internet. Our main hub for South India is Hyderabad, where we now serve over 100,000 fiber consumers. In addition, we have a significant user base in Telangana cities like Khammam, Nizamabad, and Nalgonda, as well as Andhra Pradesh towns like Vijayawada, Guntur, and Vizag. We are pleased to see that many towns already have better access to quick, reasonably priced internet thanks to our fiber-to-home service.

We now want to reach a wider audience. The goal is not just to grow inside large cities but also to reach neighboring Taluka districts and smaller towns. We are here to address the growing demand for and degree of digital literacy in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana by providing high-quality connection that is affordable for anyone. Regardless of location or background, we want high-speed fiber internet to become a common and reasonably priced option in homes across the area. In the end, our strategy is to bridge digital gaps and promote urban development. We think that this robust connection helps local companies, empowers people, and advances Telangana and Andhra Pradesh’s economy as a whole.

How does Excitel intend to stand out and successfully compete in these areas given the existing competition from bigger user bases of providers like Jio, BSNL, and Airtel?

Given the circumstances, the majority of Indian internet service providers provide speeds of around 30 Mbps in the INR 500 level, which could be enough for simple surfing but falls short of the really immersive, top-notch experience that modern customers need. Excitel, on the other hand, wants to provide best-in-class services at a price point of around 500 rupees since we think that people deserve a world-class connection even at this price range. Families and individuals alike may work from home, watch 4K material, and utilize bandwidth-intensive apps without buffering with our most popular service, 200 Mbps for around INR 435 per month.

Our distinctive business strategy, which encourages local entrepreneurship, is another important differentiation. We collaborate with local channel partners, many of whom have historically been conventional cable operators, rather than functioning only as a big, distant brand. They need fresh ways to maintain their operations in light of cable TV’s collapse, and Excitel offers that chance. We make more investments in local operators’ success than any other brand in this market. Our strategy not only provides underprivileged communities with top-notch internet, but it also strengthens the local economy by empowering these partners to prosper in the digital era.

In order to provide our consumers in Telangana, Andhra, and beyond the same high-quality, reasonably priced internet as those in major cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore, or Delhi, we are committed to staying ahead of these trends. To put it simply, our approach is based on two pillars: enabling local enterprises to participate in the digital transition and providing outstanding speed at a cost that is affordable for the majority.

These areas have high network density, therefore cable outages or cuts brought on by maintenance are frequent. How does Excitel handle these issues in terms of cost effectiveness and service dependability?

Cable cuts are undoubtedly a problem, particularly in places with extensive networks, but our strategy is built to deal with them quickly and effectively. In a novel method for this sector, our local partners own and operate the last-mile fiber from their office to the customer’s residence. Since they reside close by, they can respond to a cable outage promptly, often much more swiftly than a telecom worker traveling from a far-off location.

We have developed a comprehensive suite of IT solutions for network monitoring and rectification, which guarantees that our SLAs continue to be the finest in the market and allows both Excitel Backend and core network teams—aside from partner-led last mile teams—to perform their duties effectively and consistently.

We are able to provide a four-hour SLA guarantee because of this: if a problem isn’t fixed in four hours, we give the client a free day. This strategy lowers expenses via localized ownership while maintaining service dependability, minimizing downtime, and boosting customer confidence.

What changes are you seeing in user behavior as data consumption habits change, and how is Excitel adjusting to satisfy these evolving needs?

Data use is increasing quickly and isn’t slowing down; in fact, it may have increased during COVID-19 and has continued to do so. The average Excitel user now uses almost 30 GB a day, which is far more than the 2-3 GB daily limit that is common for mobile data plans. As apps and content become more data-intensive, this need will only increase.

We have made an investment in a robust fiber-to-the-home network to accommodate this change. This strategy is essential for providing the fast speeds and dependability that contemporary consumers demand, particularly when video-driven activities result in data use. The need for smooth video is greater than ever before, thanks to YouTube, OTT streaming, and video conferences for business or education. We guarantee that users have the capability and quality to enjoy these activities uninterrupted by delivering fiber straight to their homes.

What fiber infrastructure expansion ambitions does Excitel have, and how much funding do you expect to support these initiatives?

We have a significant emphasis on growing across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, particularly given the growing demand in smaller towns like Vijayawada, Guntur, and Golconda as well as in larger cities like Hyderabad and Vizag. We are dedicated to provide top-notch fiber service in these regions, especially B and C-class towns, where having access to the internet is becoming more and more important.

We have already installed between 6,000 and 7,000 kilometers of fiber infrastructure. We want to quadruple this reach over the next two to two-and-a-half years. An estimated 60–70 crores will be needed for this expansion, of which 60% will be funded by Excitel and 40% by our local partners. We are committed to providing high-speed internet to communities throughout the states by expanding fiber connection farther into these areas.