Ubiquitous and affordable satellite narrowband IoT network: Core competency of Skylo Technologies

In a chat with VARINDIA, Angira Agrawal, Chief Operating Officer, Skylo Technologies discusses about differentiating factor, core competencies, partnership with BSNL and growth verticals

How does Skylo differentiates from competition?
From a customer perspective, today the biggest thing is that every customer wants IoT devices to be connected. Everyone is starting to use IoT devices. And when they are moving in that journey they have data available for all their assets, be it the vehicles, generators etc.

Every organization and customer today wants their devices to be connected so that the data is available to them for making business decisions to boost productivity, and save lives, in extreme situations.

When we look at that, the biggest challenge that they face is connectivity, which is not 100%. While everyone speaks about how the connectivity levels from a mobile network perspective have improved in India, they are still not 100% and this is the core challenge that Skylo resolves.

Skylo helps users no matter where they are, have their assets connected, and the users therefore get full accessibility. Skylo does that by leveraging a satellite network, unlike terrestrial networks, and satellite networks provide a complete umbrella over the region, over the country.

From a channel partner perspective, the whole element is around being able to service more needs that their end customers have. Channel partners want to gather more wallet share and build a deeper relationship with the customer. Their customers are looking for a solution that will help solve this problem. Skylo can do this very well and very effectively. It is a new business and there is a huge opportunity that exists. And that is something that we can solve as Skylo for the channel partners.

What are the core competencies of Skylo?
The core competency of Skylo is the ubiquitous but affordable satellite narrowband IoT network that we have built. The reason I say it is affordable is because satellite connectivity, both from a one-time and recurring perspective, is something that costs anywhere between 1- 5 lakh rupees, one, that is a lot of money, and is typically out of bounds for almost everyone that looks at it from a satellite perspective, during an event connectivity.

Skylo has brought down one time cost to about 7 to 10 times what they used to be, and have brought down recurring costs, again, in similar denomination.

The second is, the whole beauty of the solution itself. It is very easy to deploy and easy to use. We built the end- to-end solution required. So, that is the uniqueness that Skylo brings to the table. 

Kindly brief about the recent partnership with the BSNL.
With BSNL, we announced our partnership in December 2020. It is an extremely strategic and critical partnership. BSNL has a footprint which goes across the country. They have enterprise business teams that operate with organizations, government and otherwise, across the country. BSNL also has the license to provide satellite services in the country. We work with them from two perspectives.

One is of course the licensing part that they bring to the table. But the other is the go-to market partnership, where we work very closely with the BSNL teams and they have been really supportive in terms of how we reach out into the market, how we engage with organizations and customers to be able to build the business. So, that is the nature of the partnership we have with BSNL.

What are the verticals you are targeting as the growth engine?
Any vertical that requires connectivity to assets that are operating in remote parts of the country is the easiest vertical to be targeted. When there is an asset, an asset that is based or goes to a remote part.

For example, when we look at fisheries, typically mobile networks are available up to 8 to 10 nautical miles, but when a fishing boat goes up to 200, 300, 400 nautical miles into the sea, they have no mobile network. When they are out there without communication, it is extremely strenuous, and puts a lot of pressure not only from a safety perspective, but even from a productivity/ money perspective, they have caught a certain kind of fish, and can they share that information back to shore early on? This is one use case.

When you look at a logistics industry, while people stay in population areas, the vehicles travel across - they would move from one point to the other. The customers who use logistic services are extremely demanding in terms of wanting to know where their product is. When is it going to reach? They want to ensure that if it is a precious cargo, it is locked electronically so that there is no pilferage on the way. If a cargo needs to be maintained at a certain temperature, customers want to know it is being maintained at the right temperature when it reaches them.

For the logistics company to be able to provide that level of customer service but at the same time, keep operational costs under control is very critical. For example a truck moving in the Himalayas or in the jungles of Bihar or Jharkhand, they need to have visibility on where their truck is at any point of time. Is there an emergency we can help them respond faster to the truck driver? Is there a challenge that a truck driver is facing, is there a theft that is happening? Can someone respond to the truck driver? That becomes a very interesting use case from a logistics perspective.

There are a lot more use cases- Mining, for example. How do you look at the construction industry when highways are being built, they're being built in remote parts. How does a minister sitting in an office get to know how much road has been constructed every day? How many meters of road has been constructed every day. These are some of the use cases that immediately come to mind.