VPN: Public Resources Private Network

To keep its corporate base intact, BSNL is planning to provide multi-protocol label switch (MPLS) based VPN and broadband services across the country. This will help BSNL in two ways. One, it will be able to offer corporates the entire suite of services under one umbrella. Two, BSNL’s top- and bottom-line will get a push.

With the coming up of private operators in basic and NLD services, BSNL had no option but to reduce tariffs to match those of private operators. All this has affected its turnover, and the behemoth plans to compensate for the loss and increase ARPU by taking up new initiatives, with focus on data and value-added services.

BSNL’s VPN Project

The company has already tested its IP MPLS-based network to offer secure and reliable VPN services. The services will be initially available in 10 cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Ernakulam. Although the PoPs are located in these cities, the services can be available across India, by extending last-mile connectivity to the respective cities as per the demand. In future, new PoPs will be added to expand the network and cover cities wherever the demand exists.

The IP MPLS network is a closed network and is the first STM-1 based data network offering IP connectivity in the country.

It has STM-1 (155 Mbps) mesh connectivity between four nodes—Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai. The remaining cities are being connected by redundant STM-1 links to these four nodes. The Delhi-to-Lucknow link is currently connected by E3 links (34 Mbps).

MPLS-based VPN service will help corporate customers to have a secure dedicated closed user group (CUG), and high-speed IP-based network with simple, user-friendly equipment at their premises. The network is ideal for corporates connecting branch offices and head offices in a mesh network. Corporates can establish a private network using public network resources without the hassle to maintain the last-mile equipment. The technology also helps in ensuring that data of one customer is in no way accessible to another VPN customer, making it an ideal choice for banks and financial institutions. It also helps in ensuring bandwidth and throughput guarantees being given to corporates.

Tariff for MPLS-based VPN service
Fixed tariff per VPN port
Bandwidth		Tariff per annum (in Rs lakh)
64 kbps		0.48
128 kbps		0.86
256 kbps		1.49
2 Mbps		7.7
l	Usage charge is Nil
l	Local lead charge (up to the VPN port) is as per existing tariff on R&G at actuals
l	10 percent discount on VPN port charges if one opts for multiple ports in the same city
The above tariff is subjected to the following conditions:
a)	Minimum assured bandwidth will be @ 25 percent of the VPN port subscribed
b)	No PSTN/PABX connectivity will be allowed for these VPN ports
c)	Eligibility of the member to be same as that for the member of CUG network
d)	Inter VPN group communication not permitted

The MPLS VPN network of BSNL shall not be connected to the public Internet currently, thereby increasing security. By taking all complexities in the network core, it allows customers to have simple routers at their premises and to have L2 connectivity. This provides the entire range of services like point-to-point L2 (Frame Relay connectivity); point-to-multipoint L3 intranet connectivity; transfer voice and data; choice of data access rates—64 kbps, nx64 kbps, and 2 Mbps; VPN services—mesh and spoke; and others.

For the IP MPLS VPN network, the network management operations and provisioning center has been established at Pune with disaster-recovery center at Bangalore, which will help in quick provisioning of service when the network is down.

Pravin Prashant