Product details

In October 2016, Wifi Dabba, a startup in Bengaluru, launched quicker and low-cost internet connection by installing dabbas or routers (powered by fibre optics) in the neighbourhood shops in the city. Wifi Dabba was a licensed ISP and each dabba of the company had a range of 180 feet and could connect 200 customers simultaneously. All a customer had to do was to buy a prepaid paper token from a local shop, connect to the Wi-Fi and then enter his/her mobile number, OTP for verification and the token number on the homepage that pops up automatically to fire up the connection. Once the consumer gets connected to the company's Wi-Fi, he or she could use the service seamlessly throughout the city wherever Wifi Dabba's hotspots were located. The cost of the data plans of the company was cheaper than the data plans of telecom companies in India. As of November 2017, Wifi Dabba had installed 400 routers or dabbas in Bengaluru and aimed to be the preferred choice for data consumption by installing millions of these dabbas in Bengaluru and other cities of India in the forthcoming years. However, Wifi dabba was not the only Wi-Fi hotspot provider around. Telecom companies including BSNL, Reliance Jio (Jio), Airtel among others also had their own Wi-Fi hotspots. Apart from that, the Government of India and the State Government of Maharashtra had also launched public Wi-Fi hotspots. In this backdrop, would Wifi Dabba be able to achieve its goal and become the preferred choice for data consumption amidst competition from established players like Airtel, BSNL and Jio. Will it disrupt India's mobile data market?