IPX What customers think and want IPX. Competitive analysis Who offers what SAMPLE. May January 2014

Transcription

1 IPX What customers think and want IPX May 2013 Competitive analysis Who offers what SAMPLE January 2014

2 IPX - Competitive analysis 2 About the authors Isabelle Paradis Isabelle has worked for 20 years in the telecoms industry. Her personal experience ranges from International Wholesale through to Business Strategy, Marketing and Product Management along with extensive research and consulting experience. She has worked across all continents and has lived in North America, Europe and Asia. Steve Heap Steve is a senior telecom executive with 30+ years experience leading companies from small technology start-ups to global service providers. He is a recognized expert in voice services and VoIP, Internet backbones and IP services, optical and submarine networks with significant additional experience in operations.

3 IPX - Competitive analysis 3 For more information contact: HOT TELECOM: t: f: e: info@hottelecoms.com w: Other reports of interest: IPX Market - Trends, Key players, Traffic International IPX Market Revenue Analysis and Forecast IPX - What customers really think and want DISCLAIMER: HOT TELECOM verified all information in this report to the best of its ability. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. However, as the information is based on interviews and secondary information provided by operators, regulators and other companies outside of our control, we cannot guarantee that the information provided is free of inaccuracies and/or fluctuations. HOT TELECOM shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

4 IPX - Competitive analysis 4 Table of Content Executive Summary Objectives and Methodology IPX Evolution IPX Providers and their offering Introduction Introduction and Background Methodology IPX Evolution Provider evolution Requirements evolution Services evolution Features evolution Peering evolution Mobile Operating Groups Rates Evolution IPX Providers and their offering Competitive Analysis Summary IPX Providers' profile Aicent BICS BT Wholesale Comfone Deutsche Telekom International Carrier Sales & Solutions (ICCS) Etisalat Hutchison Global Communications Limited ibasis Orange PCCW Global SAP Mobile Services Syniverse Tata Communications Telekom Austria Group Wholesale Telenor Global Services (TGS) TeliaSonera International Carrier (TSIC) Telstra Global TI Sparkle Annex Acronyms List of Tables Table 1: Summary table of IPX providers' offering Table 2: Network and Access table attributes definition Table 3: Service table attributes definition Table 4: Features table attribute definition Table 5: QoS Parameters table attribute definition Table 6: Network and Access attribute summary by IPX provider Table 7: Service portfolio summary by IPX provider Table 8: Summary of Features supported by IPX provider Table 9: Summary of QoS Parameters measured by IPX provider

5 IPX Providers and their offering - Table sample

6 IPX - Competitive analysis 6 Table 1: Network and Access attribute summary by IPX provider IPX providers Number of Access PoPs 3 Number of IPX customers IPX Peering agreements Charge for access port Wholesale voice network Transmission network Diameter signaling network IP, Transmission and Signaling SMS messaging Service status and relationships network GRX Signaling Messaging Aicent BICS BT Comfone DT Etisalat Hutchison ibasis Orange PCCW SAP Mobile Services Syniverse TATA Telekom Austria Telenor Global Services TSIC Telstra TI Sparkle Notes: 1 Depends on one or a mixture of the following depending on the IPX provider: service, access method, customer and/or cost 2 17 Points of Interconnect 3 Access PoPs are potentially defined differently by IPX Providers, with some reporting the number of IPX service nodes and other reporting access nodes on a transmission network 4 MPLS-connected customers only. Excludes other dedicated IP, and public IP connected customers. * a portion of these customers may be reached via public Internet. Information valid as of January 2014.

7 IPX - Competitive analysis 7 Table 2: Service portfolio summary by IPX provider Voice services IP, Transmission and Signaling IPX providers VoIPX Voice Signaling GRX SMS Hubbing MMS Hubbing LTE Signaling LTE Roaming RIM Connectivity RCS Hubbing IMS Hubbing RTI 2 WiFi Roaming Aicent BICS BT Comfone DT Etisalat Hutchison ibasis Orange PCCW SAP Mobile Services Syniverse TATA Telekom Austria Telenor Global Services TSIC Telstra TI Sparkle Notes: Uses partner: Own offer: On a case by case basis: Does not offer the service: 1 VoLTE 2 RTI: Real Time Intelligence Note: Information valid as of January 2014.

8 IPX - Competitive analysis 8 Table 3: Summary of Features supported by IPX provider Voice specific features Other features IPX providers Cascade billing Break-in/Breakout HD Voice Number portability CoS treatment E-2-E QoS KPI reporting SLAs Transparency Routing Performance Commercial Aicent BICS BT Comfone DT Etisalat Hutchison ibasis Orange PCCW SAP Mobile Services Syniverse TATA Telekom Austria Telenor Global Services TSIC Telstra TI Sparkle Notes: Uses partner: 1 Break-out only Own offer: 2 Partial On a case by case basis: 3 For SMS/MMS Hubbing only Does not support the feature: Information valid as of January 2014.

9 IPX - Competitive analysis 9 Table 4: Summary of QoS Parameters measured by IPX provider Transport parameters Service parameters IPX providers Round-trip delay Jitter Packet Loss MOS/ R-factor ALOC ASR NER PGAD MTRS Service availability Service provision timeframes CLI transmission Aicent BICS BT Comfone DT Etisalat Hutchison ibasis Orange PCCW SAP Mobile Services Syniverse TATA Telekom Austria Telenor Global Services TSIC Telstra TI Sparkle Notes: Own offer: On a case by case basis: Does not support the feature: Information valid as of January 2014.

10 IPX Providers' profile - Profile Sample

11 IPX - Competitive analysis 11 Aicent Overview Aicent is a privately owned service provider backed by TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm. Headquartered in the US, with R&D and support operations in China, and regional offices in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe, Aicent has grown to become a leading global provider of roaming and interworking solutions for mobile operators. Aicent serves more than 5 billion mobile users in 120 countries through more than 200 mobile operators. With its network reaching nearly every GPRS/3G/4G operator around the world, Aicent operates one of the industry s largest GPRS and 3G network exchanges supporting GRX, CRX, 4G and WiFi roaming services. Aicent provides mobile messaging interworking services for MMS and SMS and operates one of the world s largest multimedia messaging exchanges. Aicent s portfolio of services includes: Infrastructure services IPX transport GRX 3G/GPRS Roaming RIM connectivity IPX Strategy Aicent is positioning itself as a one-stop shop for mobile operators, providing a service delivery framework supporting converged network services, enabling interworking and roaming between operators, as well as providing guarantees for quality and service level. It is becoming one of the leaders in terms of LTE roaming and signaling, with 60 connected LTE mobile operators, one third of which are transporting live traffic. It has 85 IPX PoPs globally, but it is building a strong business connecting LTE operators in Asia, as this is where most of the LTE roaming demand is coming from at this point in time. It recently announced that it had established 100% LTE connectivity in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore - continuing to solidify its leadership in the deployment of global LTE roaming. It is also focussing on the LATAM region, having recently announced the successful deployment of its LTE roaming exchange with 10 Latin American and Caribbean mobile operators, including the first commercial LTE roaming deployment by a mobile operator in Brazil. It also has strong capabilities in Real Time Intelligence of roaming and interconnect activity using Deep Packet Inspection, a capability that will be in growing demand by LTE mobile operators going forward. It mainly focuses on offering its services to mobile operators. Roaming Services LTE Roaming Roaming Control Center (PCRF/PCEF) WiFi Roaming exchange Service Roaming Intelligence Suite CRX Interworking services MMS Gateway Service SMS Exchange SMS A2P Service IPX Voice IPX Service Offering As an evolution of the company s GRX, messaging and signaling services, Aicent offers a comprehensive IPX network for MNOs, FNOs, ISPs and ASPs. Most of Aicent s services traverse its IPX platform, namely: VoIPX GRX SMS and MMS interworking SIGTRAN Signaling RIM Connectivity LTE Roaming and diameter signaling WiFi Roaming

12 IPX - Competitive analysis 12 Services that it offers for each of these include transit, mediation as well as data clearing and financial settlement. Aicent s IPX service is managed through an online portal that gives network operators and service providers Web-based tools for managing IPX routes, enabling communication between Aicent s IPX service provider and operator customers, traffic reporting and troubleshooting capabilities. Aicent claims full IPX GSMA compliance. Aicent's IPX Service is also coupled with: Packet voice such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP, SIP-I and gateways) Instant Messaging with presence, Enhanced Messaging and Rich Communications Services (RCS) Video sharing, image sharing, PoC (Push-to-talk over Cellular) and whiteboarding Aicent does not have an existing international wholesale voice business, and so its IPX is mainly focused on directly interconnecting mobile operators and their services, which can include voice. For off-net voice, Aicent obtains termination from international wholesalers and can route outgoing voice calls from their customers to the appropriate VoIP gateways for termination using a per minute charging model. A key feature of Aicent s suite of services is the intelligence it offers to the mobile operators about the roaming activity of their customers. Using signaling, deep packet inspection and processing of interconnect records, Aicent can provide a range of detailed reports on traffic, performance and subscriber level behavior to help the operator better manage its roaming relationships. These services have been extended to cover LTE roaming and signaling on the IPX. IPX network Aicent does not own and operate its own international transmission network, choosing instead to lease capacity from other operators. It offers all its services via a mixture of on-net and off-net coverage. It uses various carriers MPLS network to underpin the provision of its services in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It also leases and manages an extensive fibre capacity within Europe. Depending on the service, there could be multiple partners over a peering connection. Aicent peers with Sybase, Syniverse, BICS, Orange to name a few. Specific for IPX, it has already concluded peering agreements with BICS, Orange and Syniverse, and in progress with 9 other IPX providers. Aicent s private IPX network infrastructure consists of a network access layer and a core backbone network providing global access worldwide. The network has 85 sites covering 54 cities in 30 countries. Of these, 37 are core PoPs covering 29 cities in 17 countries and 48 are access sites covering 44 cities in 22 countries. Aicent s IPX customers can interconnect using the following methods: Public Internet with IPSec Direct access at PoPs NAPs IPX Service Features Aicent says that it is compliant with GSMA IPX SLAs, and that it offers transport services with KPI-based reporting and penalties for not achieving SLAs. Aicent s IPX service features include: Session Management - Bandwidth based call admission and control - Rate limiting such as total sessions, burst rate, sustained rate - Session throttling Security Management - Filtering and routing enforcement - Prevention of malicious attacks - Topology hiding Route Management - Facilitate route interworking, selection and MT negotiation - On-line automatic route selection tool - Local Policy, ENUM and DNS query capabilities Global Mobile Number Portability - MNP capabilities for accurate routing and delivery

13 IPX - Competitive analysis 13 IPX Proxy - SIP and SIP-I Proxy and/or B2BUA (Back to Back User Agent) Reporting - Traffic analysis and security reports QoS and SLAs Aicent says that it is compliant with GSMA IPX SLAs, and that it offers transport services with KPI-based reporting and penalties for not achieving SLAs. For IPX Transport, Aicent covers the following SLA parameters: Round Trip Delay Packet Loss Jitter Bandwidth usage For application services, covers service SLA such as: MOS/R-Factor ALOC ASR MTRS NER PGAD CLI Transmission Service Availability Service provision timeframe Aicent deploys DiffServ as the QoS provisioning mechanism to offer different QoS and SLA per class of applications need. Based on the characteristics of classes defined by 3GPP, Aicent supports 3 distinct classes on its IPX network and maps the appropriate LTE QCI or customer demanded CoS into a Aicent traffic class. Aicent IPX network provides differentiated services to three distinct classes designed for different data transit demand: Gold Class: The Gold class is designed to support delay and jitter sensitive applications such as signaling, real-time voice and real-time video conferencing or streaming applications. Silver Class: The Silver class is designed to support applications that have certain delay and packet loss requirement but without strict jitter requirements, such as transactions service, web browsing, telnet and other interactive applications. Bronze Class: The Bronze class is designed to support background applications that are not sensitive to roundtrip-delay and jitter such as network management data transfers. IPX Customers For its IPX services, Aicent mainly targets mobile operators. The operator has migrated its existing GRX customers to the IPX (without necessarily changing the method of interconnect to the access POP and so claims that it has over 200 mobile operator customers in 114 countries on its IPX Some of its key customers globally include: Aicent reports service and transport layer KPIs to customers. In the case of the service layer, KPIs reporting is done via a web portal. On the other hand, for the transport layer, KPIs are reported via periodic reports. Transport and service KPIs are correlated and reported as such. In common with other IPX operators, the measurement and commitment to QoS targets ends at the edge of the Aicent network and does not extend across peering connections to a second IPX. AT&T Mobility China Mobile China Unicom China Telecom Globe Telecom LG U+ Singapore Telecom NTT Docomo O2UK SK Telekom Verizon Wireless XL Indonesia Telkomsel Smart Philippines

14 IPX - Competitive analysis 14 IPX Peering agreements Aicent has announced an IPX peering agreement with BICS, and has now inked agreements with Syniverse and Orange. In total, Aicent has signed 4 peering agreements with 9 additional ones in negotiation. Aicent has established a presence for IPX peering at Amsterdam, Singapore and Ashburn/USA. It also partners with Cisco, Huawei, Acme Packet, Intel and Oracle for its equipment and systems. IPX Recent news and developments November 2013: Aicent, announced the successful implementation of their Wi-Fi Roaming Exchange solution within both KT and NTT DOCOMO s networks. Through Aicent s Wi-Fi Roaming Exchange, combined with KT and NTT DOCOMO s Wi-Fi solution, KT subscribers can now seamlessly and securely roam between the two operators network hotspots allowing them to automatically connect through EAP-SIM authentication. November 2013: Aicent announced one hundred percent mobile operator coverage through their LTE Roaming Exchange solution within the countries of Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. October 2013: Aicent announced the successful deployment of its LTE roaming exchange with 10 Latin American and Caribbean mobile operators, including the first commercial LTE roaming deployment by a mobile operator in Brazil. September 2013: Aicent announced it has reached an industry milestone by becoming the first mobile interworking provider to network over fifty international LTE operators. Achieving this LTE roaming milestone, solidifies Aicent s position as the worldwide leading developer of LTE interoperability and interworking solutions required for nextgeneration 4G roaming. August 2013: Aicent announced the release of its Roaming Intelligence Suite (RIS) LTE Edition supporting both LTE Diameter signaling and IPX Transport. With Aicent s RIS, LTE Edition s real-time monitoring and deep packet inspection capabilities, mobile operators can better monitor the end-to-end roaming process and proactively react to and troubleshoot potential issues, ensuring an improved subscriber LTE roaming experience. Strengths Aicent is one of the largest GRX providers in the world with extensive relationships. Aicent is becoming a leader in LTE roaming and signaling with 60 connected LTE mobile operators. This should position them well ahead of the pack in terms of LTE reach. Aicent has a full range of services offered to mobile companies, including CDMA exchange, messaging exchange and processing services. Aicent has a well developed Real-Time Intelligence offering, which enables it to offer leading edge features such as DPI capabilities. Aicent s existing customers are based in markets where VoIP and mobile data growth is already ramping up in particular in Asia. Aicent is a strong player in the global WiFi roaming market. It can support mobile carriers with WiFi off-load to save cost. September 2013: Aicent announced a partnership with LG U+, a leading South Korean telecommunications service provider, to bring powerful and seamless 4G connectivity to LG U+ s mobile subscribers as they travel between their home network in South Korea and international locations including Singapore and Hong Kong.

15 IPX - Competitive analysis 15 More information Our IPX report based on interviews and surveys with 18 IPX providers provides an indepth view of who the main IPX providers are, how their offering is evolving in terms of services, network, access, peering and features. The objectives of this report therefore are to: Define the current status of the IPX providers' ecosystem Better understand how IPX providers' offering are evolving Identify new IPX services and features being developed Understand how peering agreements are evolving and how it may impact IPX going forward Define the differences in service providers' offering and capabilities Who should purchase this report: IPX providers seeking to understand how the segment is evolving in terms of services, customers, competitors and how they are positioned within the overall IPX ecosystem. IPX customers needing to understand the different service offerings and providers to define how they can benefit from IPX, who to buy it from and how it can help them grow their business. IPX vendors looking to understand the needs of IPX providers and customers and where new opportunities will come from. Report price: US$1,400 Publishing date: January 2014 Format: pdf For more information or to order this report, please contact us at: Tel: sales@hottelecoms.com or visit the following page: Other reports of interest IPX Market - Trends, Key players, Traffic International IPX Market Revenue Analysis and Forecast IPX - What customers really think and want