ILD: IP Is Being Watched

Things have not been smooth for Data Access since the Internet service
provider (ISP) company planned to diversify into the international long-distance
(ILD) business.

At a time when most of the service providers were planning to go for
traditional TDM technology, Data Access made a bold decision and opted for IP.
Knowing that there was not any successful IP model in the country and very few
worldwide, it was a challenge for the company to roll out IP services.

The move has helped Data Access–a late entrant in the ISP market–to make
a giant leap and position itself as one of the first two private ILD operators
to start services in the country. Bharti Telesonic was the first private
operator to launch its ILD operation on 19 July 2002; Data Access was not far
behind and launched its services after four days.

ISP business gave the confidence to set up IP network for ILD

Siddhartha Ray

Coming from the ISP world, Data Access is well versed with the IP technology
and that perhaps gave it the confidence to go for India’s first IP network
deployment in the country.

Though many large service providers here were still thinking about deploying
IP and weighing its pros and cons in terms of RoI and QoS related to voice, Data
Access took up the challenge and went ahead with IP. It crossed the first hurdle
by being the first to deploy IP. The company is currently very aggressive on the
next front, i.e. carving a niche for itself in the Indian ILD space. If it
manages to do so, that will pave way for more probable ILD operators to opt for
IP.

Data Access opted for the VocalTec IP infrastructure and tied up with ITXC
for an interconnect agreement, which will enable it to offer international phone
service to and from India over ITXC’s global VoIP network. The company has
invested around Rs 160 crore (inclusive of the license fee), and plans to invest
another Rs 100 crore by the end of this calendar year, for launching data and
valueadded services. In the current fiscal, plans are also to launch global
clearinghouse operations.

The Network

Data Access’ ILD architecture has the plus points of both the TDM and IP
technologies. The network is a hybrid one, with TDM at the edge and IP at the
core. Countering some perceptions that IP is cheap, Siddhartha Ray, managing
director, Data Access says, "That’s not correct. The ILD network built by
the company is 30 percent costlier than the traditional network."

Submarine and Satellite Link
VSNL—Teleglobe—Mumbai—New York
JCSAT-3—Pacific
NSS-703—Europe and Atlantic
Europestan-1—Pacific and Atlantic
International Gateway
	Delhi
	Kolkata
	Mumbai
	Bangalore
	Chennai
Network Centre
	Delhi
	London
	New York
	Hong Kong

On the network architecture front, the company claims to have an edge as
compared to other ILD providers in the country. It has a very high level of
redundancy and throughput. Being a packet network, it also has a high level of
flexibility, as it works on IP technology where the capacity of any route can be
changed with dynamic allocation of capacity. If a particular route is blocked or
choked, traffic can take an alternate route, providing a higher level of
redundancy.

Opting for IP has given the company an edge in comparison to the TDMA
technology.

TDMA allows service providers to have an average throughput of around 12,000
minutes per E1 per day, whereas Data Access is providing an average throughput
of around 25,000 minutes per E1 per day.

Data Access has seven points of interconnect (PoI), one each in Delhi,
Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, and Ambala. The company has gone
for five international gateways in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, and
Kolkata. Data Access has a total bandwidth capacity of 500 Mbps, of which 100
Mbps is dedicated to voice. In order to provide redundancy, the company has
taken bandwidth through satellite as well as submarine links. On the satellite
front, it has opted for EuropeStar1 from Europe*Star, NSS-703 from New Skies
Satellite NV, and JCSAT3 from Japan Satellite Systems. On the submarine cable
front, the company has taken bandwidth for the Mumbai—New York route from VSNL
and Teleglobe, mainly for providing backup.

"In terms of cost, Data Access is substantially cheaper except for
Middle East and Africa routes," Ray points out. The company has signed 45
contracts, which provide direct connectivity to all major US, European, Japanese
(NTT and KDD), Singapore (SingTel and StarHub), Hong Kong (Hong Kong Tel and
Hutch), Australian (Telstra and Optus), and Korean carriers. Contracts have also
been signed with four carriers each for Middle East and Africa. Commenting on
the network quality, Ray points out, "The network is of an international
quality and is comparable to that of Deutsch Telecom, MCI, Telstra, NTT, and
Teleglobe.

It makes us a generation ahead of all international carriers in thecountry."

The Performance

In India, most of the probable ILD service providers are eagerly waiting for
the test results of Data Access. It is too early to comment on the test results,
as only a small portion of traffic is passing through the Data Access network
because of the preferred carrier status of VSNL. Ray says that the results have
been encouraging so far.

RoI is more inclined towards IP, as Data Access has an advantage of providing
services at a cheaper price due to its excellent network architecture, which is
flexible and has a high level of redundancy.

According to Data Access, it has been able to achieve excellent results on
mean opinion score (MOS), post dial delay (PDD), and call completion rate (CCR),
on account of its robust network architecture.

The company says it has an advantage of handing over the calls to
international carriers at three centers–London, New York, and Hong Kong, and
not inside India as is the practice with VSNL and Bharti. It has full-fledged
network centers in Delhi, London, New York, and Hong Kong, which allows
international carriers to pick up the call from any of the three centers, and
allow the call to pass through their domestic long-distance networks. Data
Access also has the advantage of monitoring the call till the last mile before
the international carriers pass it to their local network. To provide
redundancy, all international carriers connect Data Access with a minimum of two
points on the edge. That helps Data Access in two ways. One, in improving the
quality of call by providing redundancy both on its own network as well as on
the interconnect network. Two, in lowering the direct cost of the company and
helping in providing international calls at a cheaper rate.

The MOS measures the quality of inbound as well as outbound traffic. Data
Access’ MOS quality on outbound is 4.5 on a scale of 5 in the case of BSNL,
and 4.62 on a scale of 5 for MTNL, whereas the MOS stipulated in the ILD license
document talks about a minimum of 4 to be offered by the service providers. This
is a remarkable achievement considering the fact that Data Access has an
IP-based network, which is different from that of Bharti and VSNL.

Post-dial delay (PDD), is another parameter, which calculates the time taken
for the destination number to ring after the number has been dialed. Data Access
claims that PDD is a maximum of around 3 seconds. PDD is less than 1 second if
the traffic takes a single route. If it takes the second route due to choking or
blockage in the first route, the delay is around 2 seconds, and if the traffic
takes the third route due to a blockage on the second as well as the first
route, the delay is around 3 seconds. This is much lower than the PDD for STD
calls, which is 6—8 seconds, on an average.

The call completion rate (CCR) describes how many calls get completed in
spite of problems like no response and engage tone. The average CCR of Data
Access is around 62 percent, whereas that of VSNL is expected to be around 30
percent.

Due to an excellent network architecture, claims Data Access, its direct
costs are far lower as compared to those of its competitors. So even if the ILD
operators in the country reduce ISD prices, the company hopes to keep making
money.

But...

Data Access is yet to show concrete results. It still needs to increase its
revenues from a tens of crore rupees to a thousand crore rupees, and expand its
services offerings from pure voice to data and value-added services. Only then,
it can be termed a success story.

Pravin Prashant