Signal February Update

Installation
As I am sure you are all aware the installation in Highworth has not gone to plan. There are several reasons for this - topography, approvals and snow to name a few. A big part of potential users’ frustration has been that they can see our equipment (nodes) on lampposts so assume they are working when in fact they may not be. This is because a cluster of nodes could be waiting for one on higher ground nearby to be switched on and we may not yet have the approval. We have also had areas where there were no suitable lampposts and no public buildings to substitute. We have in the High Street spoken to retail businesses and begun to cover our black spots and hope to complete around the 15th. Once complete we will continue to work in the area for a week or two, optimising our network to make sure we are giving the best possible service.

Roll Out
We have our next planning meeting on the 16th and at this meeting we will be considering our wider roll out plans.
 
Usage
We have 500 users registered with 200 being live.  Of the live users (who are all on the free service) we are seeing about 100 users on line at one time. We have not had one complaint from those who are able to connect.

Customer response
Customer response in the main remains positive but we know we have frustrated many because we went live with the PR before we were ready, as a result are always playing catch up.

Sales
Our sales plan is based on selling to around 5,000 homes out of the 88,000 in the Borough, 50% of which are not online, and 1,100 of the c10,000 businesses. On the basis that Highworth is c5% of our population, this gives us a target for new/converted private users of between 200/250 and around 20/25 businesses. I am targeting and expect more.

Marketing
Marketing for Highworth is of course going to be different from marketing to the whole Borough. The following is our initial plan.
In Highworth, from the end of February, we will carry out a leaflet drop, display window posters and place an advertisement in a community magazine. We will also be placing adverts for the free service (not yet designed) in as many public places as we will be allowed.
I am looking into taking a small retail presence on the High Street as a way of keeping our brand in front of potential users and am in very early talks with a local community group about them using the shop for community activity for free on the basis they staff the site. Our presence is more about the shop front and wall materials inside which will lead customers to our site.

I hope the above helps and you may wish to keep an eye on our website for further updates or follow us on Twitter by going to www.twitter.com/getsignal.

Rikki Hunt
CEO Digital City (UK) Ltd