What makes Kosc Telecom unique as a connectivity provider?
Created in 2016, we define ourselves as the French wholesale-only CaaS provider and as such, we provide nationwide local access solutions to carriers with real-time Connectivity as a Service management tools in France. From the outset, we are moved by two convictions. The first one, is that wholesale-only carriers are now bringing a new high-feature and cost-effective model for investment in very high bandwidth, with fibre. It is no coincidence that one of overall trends which influences the dynamics of the European market is increased specialisation rather than diversification. The second one is that, in these times of digitisation, our industry must transform itself to be agile and customer centric. Therefore, we first started to design our information system from scratch, and then we built our network around this IT system. We have called it: Connectivity as a Service, since we enable connectivity on demand.
Kosc Telecom has grown quickly, could you tell us a little bit more?
We have gone from a small company of five people in 2016 to our current size with a staff of 80. The first stage in our development was building our CaaS e-Portal, that’s why for a long time the biggest part of our workforce was our IT team. Then, the launch of our best-effort fibre product in 2018, one of our flagship products with E-Access Fibre, has driven us to strengthen our operational teams (delivery and technical customer service). Now that we are accelerating our growth speed with now a slow growth of our staff. Automation enables our team to focus only on complex cases.
Your CaaS offering appealed to domestic customers first, then international wholesale customers have segued into. What is your sales approach with your CaaS strategy?
Even though CaaS, the core of our strategy, is a whole new way of looking at business, there was not much need for educating our prospective customers! Indeed, I think the market expectation for this kind of approach was strong. The CaaS approach is based on three pillars: a comprehensive portfolio, an extensive nationwide network and a fully integrated, efficient and automated platform. Today, the wholesale French market is still dominated by two players, who have locked relevant offers for the domestic market. With Kosc, the wholesale French market now has access to a complete portfolio of fibre products. In addition, coverage is available, since we are offering the second most comprehensive coverage in France, with 10 million E-Access Fibre lines and 12 million best-effort lines as of Q1 2020.
The icing on the cake is that, through our CaaS solution, we are providing the most effective tool to support our customers driving their business into the digital era! International wholesale carriers are looking to optimise and simplify their procurement sourcing, if it offers coverage, high-speed bandwidth and effective IT interconnection. We can offer the three of them, including a MEF-compliant IT platform. This solution is available via UI and APIs, so our IT and network systems are speaking the same language.
What type of ROI do your customers typically seek?
There are multiple ROI. Firstly, there is a technical ROI, since DSL/broadband is more and more replaced by fibre in France. There is now a card to play not to miss this migration. Besides, this migration is promoted by French Authorities, through the French National FibrePlan. Therefore, there is a new business opportunities ROI, since with this fibre trend and the development of digital usages, being able to offer fibre to business customers is essential. It is a key selling point, both for a growing share of existing client base, as well as acquisition of new customers. Finally, the ROI is productivity with our automated CaaS solution that provides simplicity and responsiveness. In addition, Kosc’s customer success team is always fully dedicated to supporting customers. More than Return on Investment, we focus on Return on Experience.
With more fibre, more high-speed broadband available around many parts of the world, how does this change Kosc’s opportunities?
Kosc is a nation-wide carrier acting for the development of fibre for businesses in France. This situation strengthens Kosc’s position to keep paving the way for fibre migration. Our strategy is to stay focused on wholesale and connectivity only on one hand and on local access coverage on the other hand. Regarding coverage, Kosc Telecom has one goal: complete 100% fibre coverage in France to provide the best available connectivity portfolio for all premises located across the country.
