Usage of IPLC Bandwidth
Industry segment	% age
BPO	59
Mix BPO	14
Software	19
Others	8
Note: Mix BPO are those companies whose main business line is not BPO but is using the majority of bandwidth for their BPO operations in India. V&D Estimates

Corporates, while opting for a managed data network service like IPLC and Frame Relay, should go by the following parameters before deciding upon a service provider. Here is a list of what corporates should look for in the service provider:

n Financial Backing: This was not important till last year but now it has become an important factor as it provides stability to an enterprise opting for the service.

n Satellite or Fiber: One can get managed data service through both satellite and fiber but one has to be careful while deciding what to opt for. But if the application can sustain that delay then there is no problem. If not, one has to opt for the best. It seems most of the BPOs are using satellite more as a backup and even some are using it for data whereas they opt for fiber for voice. If one compares the price, satellite prices are more expensive than submarine cable bandwidth.

n Degree of Management: Enterprise customers should opt for operators that provide end-to-end solutions rather than piecemeal solutions for international bandwidth. Not all operators are providing the complete solution. Corporate customers should opt for those who can provide all three links—the Indian half circuit; the foreign half circuit; and connectivity to customer premise equipment at both ends. In most of the cases, the companies put a blame on the local loop as it is a good excuse for the solution provider. However, that may not always be the case. Availability of local access speed is the main bottleneck and can jeopardize the network uptime.

At present, VSNL does not provide end-to-end connectivity. Soon, as competition heats up, we may see ILD providers providing end-to-end connectivity, which will allow for a higher degree of management of all the three links.

n Coverage Area: While evaluating international connectivity providers, corporates should look at the reach of different service providers in terms of countries and the number of cities that they support in each country. One has to also see whether in a particular country or city a given company has a direct presence or its services are being offered through franchisees and affiliates. With franchisees or affiliates, one cannot be sure about the quality of service in terms of network uptime and reliability as being provided by the parent company or through SLA agreements. It has been noticed that a lot of companies, in order to minimize their costs, have loose partnerships with local partners. This helps in reducing the cost of entry in a particular country and increases their reach but often corporates have complained that the quality of service has not been of the same level with franchisees or affiliates.

n Migration Path: Service providers should provide complete evolution and migration path to corporate customers. First, the growth of the corporate network in terms of size and increase in application may result in a re-configuration of the network, which will increase the bandwidth requirements. Corporates opting for service providers should see how fast such changes can be incorporated along with bandwidth rationalization.

With the increase in application, customers can also migrate from one service to another suite of services. For example, customers can switch from IPLC to frame relay or IP-over-VPN, as soon as the service becomes operational in India. They can also opt for a mix of services rather than having a homogeneous service. Corporates may also want the service provider to offer a evolution path in this regard. So corporates will benefit by partnering with those service providers who not only offer cutting-edge products and solutions but also have excellent engineering capabilities so that one can optimize on the bandwidth as well as on the cost.

n Global Account Management: It has been seen that most of the MNCs located in India go for a global account. For instance, if the parent company has opted for Sprint in the US, the Indian office also goes for the same account. But the basic problem in such a case is that while the head office gets a good quality-of-service (QoS), the same may not be applicable for the regions. In order to improve the QoS even in regions, companies have started appointing global account managers, regional account managers and national account managers for bigger accounts and each one of them get revenue credit in one form or the other. So all of them have inherent interests to provide best support and service all the time. Corporates will have to opt for those service providers that have a similar management structure, as this will result in an increase in QoS for all regions.

n Robustness, Reliability, and Redundancy: Robustness is indicative of the lead time for accommodating customer requests, or, how easily and transparently the back-up link takes over if the primary link fails. Reliability stands for the availability of the network at all times. Redundancy means what part of the network is covered with backup and contingencies and what is the uptime that is guaranteed. The real test of the network will depend on the degree of support provided on all these three fronts. The highest critical areas have to be protected by providing the best redundancy arrangements like rerouting within the internal network and providing cable diversity if one has the bandwidth in all the major cables landing in India. But most of the cables in India do not have auto recovery mechanism. So how to cope up with such a scenario? Needless to say, those service providers who provide the highest value on all the three fronts should be given preference. In terms of diversity one has to opt for those service provider who has multiple cable paths on multiple routes and also has both Pacific as well as Atlantic routing.

n Provisioning Time: Local loop connectivity takes a lot of time in India. The service provider that can reduce this time has a clear edge over others. International half bandwidth might be easier to get but the basic problem is with the last-mile connectivity. With DLD players laying OFCs in large quantities, one can see considerable reduction in provisioning time.

n Pre-sales/commissioning/after-sales Support: Those service providers who can out-score on pre-sales, commissioning and after-sales support will definitely have an advantage in comparison to others. The most crucial factor is the after-sales support because most of the service providers focus more on the first two parameters. They have to focus on customer support because if the link goes down it has to be activated at the earliest and they should have a 24x7 help desk service that helps in proactive network monitoring and support.

n Pricing: For the Indian half circuit, the rates for IPLC are fixed but for the foreign half circuit they vary depending on the tier-1 carrier that one chooses. Recently, VSNL has slashed prices keeping in mind the competition that the company is likely to face. We may see a further drop in prices once private operators start services in the ILD space.

n Network Management: Service providers should help corporates generate reports on the basis of application and in terms of traffic. Reports should be generated on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis. One has to customize according to the corporate requirement so that one can optimize on the bandwidth- and the cost-front and in turn provide better quality of service to corporates. Even the security aspect has to be carefully monitored so that one can have a hassle-free flow of traffic from one country to another.