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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.
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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 |
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| Fixed tariff per VPN port |
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| 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.