Answers in-line.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ <insert witty tagline here> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Wu" <c...@cticonnect.com> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 8:49 AM Subject: [WISPA] Quesiton on Funding / Financing / Capital Availability > With all the hype being generated by the stimulus bill, we have been > approached by a multitude of third party financial organizations that have > a renewed interest in potentially financing rural broadband...now, > specifically, for WISPs, in the past, equipment leasing has been a very > popular option for financing, but in looking at our numbers over the past > year, I've noticed a marked decline in the amount of leasing that we do - > that said, I have the following questions for the listserv about financing > > Assuming that WISPs are still need to buy equipment... > > 1. Are you able to just purchase equipment out of cash-flow organically > generated from operations Other than originally starting with our own personal seed money, that's what we've done. > 2. Have you gone to more traditional forms of money (e.g., bank / SBA / > RUS loans)? I could not qualify for any of them. > 3. Are you doing more vendor leasing programs (e.g., Motorola 3% financing > deal) Never sought any. > 4. Have you not been able to borrow money due to the credit crunch (e.g., > not deploying as aggressively) My corporation hasn't ever been able to obtain hard money credit. In fact, the "credit crunch" start last Fall raised my "30+ day past due" amount from a piddly $1200 to at one time to almost $13,000 in just four months. That almost put us under, and we're still barely scraping by until our seasonally variable cash flow revives come August, with still several thousand on the books that's very slowly getting chipped away at. > 5. Are you holding off on deployments because of the economy No, we're holding off due to lack of cash flow. We have plenty of people waiting for us to build infrastructure out to them. > 6. Have you gone to Agility...<cough> Louie the loanshark =) After much discussion, being some of the first people Agility contacted, we have not done any business with them. In my estimation, they wanted control over our business and day to day decisions, which we concluded was both unwarranted and unwise. > > Or any other thoughts / comments on this topic? > WISP equipment is not really a "commodity" in that there is almost no market for it outside of the "maker-vendor" relationship. Other than Ebay, and a couple of people who attempt to do it piecemeal, there is no "market" which stabilizes the value of used equipment, making them a commodity you can borrow against. Perhaps it would be more useful, if vendors had the ability to get capital and create stable working and short term credit relationships with their buyers, kind of like the used car market. > -Charles > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
