Brsk building brand advocates

Brsk aims to disrupt and gain market share in 2024, driving uptake alongside its steady build to establish itself as a ‘David’ to the ‘Goliath brands’ in the industry.

The altnet has passed 426,000 homes since its inception in 2020 and remains on its way to address over one million premises by 2026. It has managed to maintain its build activity in a year that has seen many others slow down, with COO Ian Kock attributing this to its day one priority on uptake and connections.

He said: “We have always understood the importance of building a customer base as we built the network. Many providers place heavy initial focus on delivery and network size; however, we have always understood that what’s important for a sustainable business is ensuring a return from the asset through an active subscriber base.”

Brsk invested early in an engagement, awareness and marketing model that created a route to communicate with potential customers. “As an altnet you need to work that much harder to have your brand trusted and to build credibility, so the approach needs to be different from the outset to set yourself apart,” said Kock.

He emphasises the importance of positive initial engagement with the brand as a tool for creating advocates in the community, especially in more heavily saturated areas with multiple operators. He adds: “The success of our referral programme has given us heart in this strategy. Many of the communities we build in are close-knit, so being able to establish yourself as a trusted brand goes a long way for future potential.”

Brsk is continuing to build on this strategy, prioritising enhancements to its overall customer experience, improving technology for the end-user and creating a more seamless customer journey from order placement right through to support and maintenance. “We have already established ourselves as a major contender in the market, and we want to continue on the trajectory of being the David to the Goliath brands, he added.

Alongside elevating its own platforms and systems which are developed in-house, Kock notes that there is always room for innovation, and states that Brsk always be on the lookout for additional products that suit our customers’ needs. “It’s up to altnets to provide value and services that challenge incumbents in their deployment areas,” he adds.

Brsk demonstrated this in January through a content partnership with Netgem TV, which has seen brsk offer customers an integrated TV solution to stream movies, TV shows and live content through Netgem’s UHD TV box.

The partnership enables Brsk to better compete with providers who offer TV services and to offer a further service to its customers to potentially increase ARPU. “The intention is to open up to a market that might be driven to take up a broadband offering because of their need for included TV services and to create that opportunity where the need is,” said Koch.

He is also clear that bundling shouldn’t be done for the sake of it and any OTT service added to an altnet’s offering should reflect the needs of the areas it serves. “The importance of diversification through bundling depends on the behaviour and needs of the customer base.”

Demographic factors play a part in whether bundling is the right strategy for a customer, or if it's simpler to provide them with the option of ‘building’ their own package.

“Once you’ve understood your market and if bundling is key, it’s important to create packages that demonstrate true value to the end user and to create stickiness through being transparent in your offering, there shouldn’t be smoke and mirrors in terms of what the end result is for a customer.”