XDSL has revamped its Diginet and MPLS VPN products and pricing. XDSL’s pricing, still some of the best in the sector, is accompanied by a clear service level agreement (SLA) matrix which customers can select from. It’s a model that will meet the needs of all market players, from resellers of bandwidth that want the lowest prices to corporate users that place high value on guaranteed service levels and an excellent service experience.
Notes Danie Fourie, director of XDSL: “The Internet service provider (ISP) market has become crowded with many players engaging in a ‘race to the bottom’, continuously lowering their prices to gain or retain market share. As these products continue to commoditise, customers are beginning to take note of, and place greater value on the service levels and the total service experience that accompany the offerings.
XDSL’s revamp of its Diginet and MPLS VPN pricing is designed to clearly define service levels and quantify the value it adds on all its products. The SLA matrix offers customers a number of defined levels of guaranteed service including uptime, response time and Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) as well as service experience such as level of support, reporting, proactive monitoring, dedicated account manager and access to management.”
Notes Fourie: “By demystifying the SLA, the customer understands exactly what they are paying for and what they are getting. They don’t need a legal department to decipher and enforce the SLA as its clear enough for the client and for XDSL support staff to understand and act on.”
It also means you get exactly what you want.
“Customers that just want the best possible price (such as resellers) with only first line support can have that, while businesses that want service guarantees can define those.
“Corporates that want the assurance of a consistently high service experience – which may encompass on-going communication throughout a critical period, direct access to third-line or executive level support, and proactive monitoring and support– can access that via Gold or Premium level SLAs.”
XDSL’s new pricing and SLA matrix identifies different capacity Diginet products, the period of the subscription and the five levels of service customers can select from, namely Starter, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Each service level indicates a specific uptime guarantee, response time and MTTR.
For each level, the ‘service experience’ is also defined in terms of:
* Access granted to first, second and third line support;
* The allocation of an account or project manager, pro-active monitoring;
* End-to-end management, maintenance and support;
* Levels of failover and firewall protection; and
* Reporting and quality of service, among others.
To compare, the Starter or entry level products and services offer little more than helpdesk or first line support. The Bronze service level offers four-hour response time during business hours, first line support via a help desk, and MTTR of 24 hours. The Platinum service level offers a one-hour business and after-hours response time, an MTTR of four hours and full service experience, including access to XDSL management.
Pricing remains highly competitive especially with pricing on entry level Diginet solutions beating out or matching competitors. For example, a Diginet MPLS VPN of 1024 kilobits per second (kbps) over 12 months with shared access costs R1 881.00 per month and a 1986kbps line, R3 639.00.
Concludes Fourie: “Over the last 12 years, XDSL has built a national network that competes with the largest, also backed by a point of presence in nine data centres. As the ISP market grows, however, the differentiator will no longer be who has the best network, it’s going be about who can offer the best service guarantees, value for money and the best service experience.
“XDSL’s strategy is to focus on service guarantees and especially on delivering the best total service experience. Our new product and pricing is designed to support us to achieve these goals and to help our customers tailor their experience with us.”
