I've never found a lender willing to lend against using the in-place used equipment as colladeral. It is the biggest double standard. I find it highly ironic that they'll use a car for colladeral that looses 50% of its value the day it leaves the lot, and has a rate of failure and risk of damage higher than just about any product on the market, and it has a huge cash burn (gas :-). but yet lendors won't put equivellent value on wireless gear, that holds its value, Ebay boasting easilly 50% after 3-4 years of use, even after fully depreciated. I'll never understand the lending market.
Tom DeReggi RapidDSL & Wireless, Inc IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband ----- Original Message ----- From: <rea...@muddyfrogwater.us> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 1:55 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Quesiton on Funding / Financing / Capital Availability > 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/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
