Net2Home, an internet network that enables everyone, regardless of how remote or marginal they live, to access the internet at a low price, reducing inequality in quality of life and helping create sustainable jobs for people in the community.
Net2Home Company Limited or Net2Home is a company established to achieve the goal of increasing the rate of internet access among people in the country, which is one of the missions of the Thai Network Information Center Foundation (THNIC Foundation) which sees that the rate of internet access among the Thai population is still very low when compared to the total population.
Today, I will take everyone to get to know a social enterprise. If we just look at the name, we might think that they just help people with low incomes and those living in remote areas to have internet access. But in fact, they have a part in helping society more than just connecting internet signals in the community. We will get to know Net2Home through an interview with Mr. Pakpoom Traiphat, the company’s Managing Director.
beginning
Net2Home began as a collaboration between two organizations: the Asian Institute of Technology and the Thai Network Information Center Foundation. Going back 12 years ago, research was applied in a camp for university students to learn about creating networks without wires. The camp activity was for the children to travel in a forest with no phone signal and the mission was for them to create their own phone network. After that research, it gradually developed into actual work in the community.
“Locals don’t use it because they’re not familiar with it.”
Mr. Pakpoom told us that at first, they were still in the process of searching and testing various methods. One of them was using technology in the form of small signal transmitters that did not destroy nature and did not affect animals in the forest, spreading it to various areas to create an internet network. However, the result was that the villagers were not interested and did not use it because it was a technology that the villagers were not familiar with. Therefore, they had to be familiarized with it by introducing this technology for the villagers to use every day. If anyone needed help anywhere, they could pick up this device and help immediately. Finally, Net2Home was born.
Net2Home’s current role
Although 4G or 5G high-speed internet is now available in many areas, we must admit that there is still a lot of inequality in Thailand. Just because our country has internet, it does not mean that every area will have access to it. There are still many people who do not have the opportunity to access such high-speed internet. Some people live in remote areas where internet signals cannot reach them. Some people do not have enough money to buy such high-speed internet. Net2Home has come in to be someone who has always offered assistance to this group of people.
“We are ready for him to take us out because we want him to come in anyway.”
It is difficult for people in remote areas to communicate their needs that there is still a need for a phone signal or internet signal in their area because their voices do not reach them or because no one has really listened to them. Due to the inequality that we know well and often talk about, that remote areas are the most developed areas. Net2Home is like the initiator who made the major internet networks see the needs of the people in the area and start installing various signals. Even though we try to help everyone access the internet at an affordable price, at the same time, we are always being replaced by the major networks.
“If I get teased out, will I be able to survive?”
The company currently has to compete with major internet network companies all the time. And the company is still able to survive because Net2Home itself has to buy internet from these major companies to connect and create its own network and provide services to the villagers at a low price. Doing this causes the major internet companies to reduce the price of their services to compete with Net2Home. But doing this is a good thing for the villagers because the company’s goal is to make the internet accessible to everyone at a low price anyway. When the major internet companies reduce their prices, the villagers will be able to access it more.
Company income
Net2Home is a spin-off company from the foundation, whose goal is to provide internet access to people in remote and low-income areas. Part of the company’s revenue comes from the foundation’s payment for the installation of these devices, as well as a fee for internet access charged to the villagers at 250 baht/month/house.
“What we really do is mentor the villagers.”
Net2Home’s assistance is not just about building an internet network and charging a fee. In foreign countries, there is an internet network popularly known as Community Internet, where people in the community manage the internet network themselves in every step. When an internet network wants to provide service, they can contact the community center and that center will manage the signal transmission or installation themselves. This is what Net2Home is doing.
“It’s not just about giving them access to the internet, it’s also about giving them a career opportunity so they can be self-sufficient.”
The company currently provides services in 14 sub-communities. Each community has a caretaker who is a villager hired by the company to spend his free time as a caretaker in this specific area. The caretaker rides a bicycle from house to house to collect a 250 baht service fee from each house. For installation, the company will look for villagers who are skilled in wiring or installing equipment, train them, and then hire them as the village technician. Another job that the company has created is to hire villagers to be salespeople, meaning they are the ones who persuade people in the village to use Net2Home services, and then receive a commission.
success
On the first day, only 9 households joined. But after word of mouth spread, today the company has 400 households, which is far beyond our expectations. But the company continues to move forward because we want everyone to receive this kind of help in every area, such as the Khlong Toei community, which has a very low internet access rate. But everyone still lacks understanding, so the company cannot help. This is what the company is trying to do. It is not just building a network, but also pushing everyone to understand the rights and benefits that everyone truly deserves.
Conclusion
Doing social enterprise is not easy. Everyone must be ready and accept failure. The ideas we have need to be tested, not just thinking and then asking if they will succeed. For example, Net2Home has changed its business model many times to adapt to the situation. When the major internet networks lowered the price of their services to compete with Net2Home, the company had to think about what to do next so that the company can survive and help society. Because no matter what, the benefits of the community must come first.
“If you want to do social enterprise, you should have social benefits as your first goal.”
“Net to Home” Social Service with Net to Home (Social Enterprise) Company Limited | The Practical Sustainability “Friend” Enterprise of Society
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Contact channels
Net2Home Company Limited (Social Enterprise) Website: http://Net2Home.co.th Tel. 089-155-0551 Email: info@Net2Home.co.th
Supported by the Office of Social Enterprise Promotion (OSEP)
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