Top 7 Tips On How To Navigate An Overseas MPLS ContractTop 7 Tips On How To Navigate An Overseas MPLS Contract

We asked Steve Garson, president of MPLS-Experts, a WAN procurement and design firm, for his top tips on negotiating an MPLS contract in the Asia-Pacific region.

1. Ask how many points of presence a carrier has in areas where you need service. How will traffic be rerouted if there's a network failure or cable break? Is Hong Kong the only PoP connecting to cables across the Pacific? How many cables does it use to traverse the Pacific? Is native language support important? What does it cost to change classes of service?

2. Carriers want to sell options, so know exactly what you want going into negotiations lest you end up overpaying. How many service classes do you need? Are six levels really better than three? One client discovered it was paying 50% more for VoIP-level service ... problem is, it wasn't using VoIP.

3. Contract language determines the flexibility you'll have. For example, you could get locked into old technologies even as new ones become available. Minimum annual commitments should be as low as possible. After contract expiration, demand that the monthly rate continue unchanged.

4. Consider issues that aren't part of the typical contract but may be essential to your network--for example, an installation-timing service-level agreement. Since required local loops are often out of the carriers' control, they don't normally include protections against installation delays. One client has been waiting six months for a circuit in Bangalore, India, but it has no financial leverage because this wasn't addressed in its contract.

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5. Realize that carriers not only focus on different things, they also use disparate terms and measures, so apples-to-apples comps are difficult. Keep SLAs as straightforward as possible.

6. If market prices drop, are you guaranteed a reduction? What if your network costs $40,000 per month with a three-year contract, but the price to a new customer is $36,000? Or say you have a business downturn and don't need as much bandwidth. Add language to let you get a price adjustment.

7. Ask to see an actual invoice. We've seen bills with six or seven line items of fees, taxes, and surcharges. Note that fees may be different depending on where the bill is delivered. Invoices to a Hong Kong address will have 3% lower taxes than an invoice sent to mainland China.

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Want To Expand Overseas? Take A Fast PoP To China