Internet service provider iWay again with successful business year
The Internet service provider iWay is growing nationwide with both private and business customers, especially outside the larger cities. The company is sticking to its vision of being "the best alternative" to the major providers.
Internet service provider iWay increased its revenue by 6.8 percent year-on-year to CHF 36.9 million in fiscal 2021. The company achieved the greatest growth of 12.7 percent in its core Internet Access business, which accounted for 60 percent of total revenue. This stable growth compared with the previous year was due in particular to significant price reductions combined with an increase in marketing activities. In larger cities, competitive pressure continued to increase, with the result that growth in Internet lines stagnated here. Growth was mainly in rural areas and in the conurbations.
Virtual telephony solutions for SMEs
"Last year, we succeeded in breaking through to become a recognized Internet provider throughout Switzerland," says a delighted iWay CEO Markus Vetterli. In the VoIP (Voice over IP) telephony and TV business area (around a quarter of total sales), the increase was a solid 6.1 percent. Particularly in the business customer environment, iWay was able to record very good sales with well-known customers with the virtual telephony solution from 3CX and, as a result, was also the only Swiss 3CX partner and solution provider to achieve the highest partner level with Titanium partner status. As Markus Vetterli explained, iWay expects to see further growth in the B2B sector in particular. SMEs in particular are recognizing the benefits of virtual telephone systems from the cloud due to the decentralization of their employees to home offices. In the meantime, iWay has implemented more than 500 3CX installations, which are serviced and supported. At 49 percent, the share of total revenue generated by partners was roughly the same as in the previous year (51 percent).
Economies of scale through increased efficiency
In the past financial year, iWay was once again able to increase its efficiency. At 51 employees, the size of the workforce remained at the previous year's level. Vetterli attributes the associated increase in profitability on the one hand to further automation of the ordering processes. On the other hand, synergies within the SAK Group have led to cost savings. For example, SAK Digital has transferred handling, support and marketing processes to iWay. In addition, the switch to SAK's TV solution enabled decisive economies of scale to be achieved in the business unit. The latter measure also paved the way for the acquisition of EW Höfe as an important TV and Internet Layer 2 customer.
Moderate growth expected
"The increasing pressure on margins and the lack of prospects for a quick agreement on the roll-out of fiber infrastructure by Swisscom are not conducive to iWay's growth prospects," says the iWay CEO. The blockade means that in many places the existing fiber-optic infrastructure may not be actively marketed. The ones who suffer are the customers who have a fiber optic connection but can still "only" use a DSL 40Mbit/s connection. On the other hand, Vetterli hopes that the mobile telephony offering launched at the beginning of the year will generate new revenue opportunities with existing and new customers and further strengthen the VoIP area for business customers. For the current financial year, Vetterli expects moderate revenue growth of 8 percent.
Source: iWay
