The Truth about Your International Network Contract That Could Save You Big Dollars, Alsbridge Report Reveals

Through the convergence of Voice and Data brought on by MPLS services, Data networks now represent most companies' largest telecom expense category. Interestingly though, a large component of this spend is often ignored when negotiating WAN networking contracts, according to Alsbridge Inc., a benchmarking, sourcing and transformation advisory firm. Alsbridge today announced a new report - The Expensive Truth about Your International Network Contract- that reveals the truth about the international network contracts that could vastly reduce network costs for companies.

According to the report, no carrier has the ability to truly be able to provide enterprises with full end-to end service entirely on their network. Instead, they purchase these circuits from local in-region PTTs, incumbent telcos and competitive providers. The telecom carriers have for some time proffered the notion that the rates charged for these local access loops represent merely a pass through charge for them. This is hard to believe coming from a group that charges surcharges for everything from their cost of collecting and remitting USF to their real estate taxes. That said, even if they are taken at their word, there is still a large area of potential, and based on Alsbridge analysis real, cost variance here. 

Carriers with local in region footprint typically have better pricing than US Domestics in foreign countries. The same holds true for companies like BT and Orange when we're talking US sites. “If you're about to issue an RFP, and you've got a fair percentage of international locations, it can be advantageous to include the local foreign carriers in the bidding,” says Dieter Thompson, President, Alsbridge. “At minimum, this can help provide a view into the international local loop pricing.”

“In your networking contract, require that your telecom carrier conduct access optimization on an annual basis,” advises Alsbridge CEO, Chip Wagner. “Their network reach in foreign countries is always changing and a year or two later may allow for shorter more logical loops.” In addition, the more open international markets see natural price compression from competition much the same as the US does. The report advises clients to make sure that that install charges are waived and circuit term minimums of 12 months to avoid missing taking advantage of these cost savings. Finally, the report advises checking on the availability of Ethernet Access in international locations. Ethernet availability is greater in most countries than here in the US and is usually more cost efficient.

For further details the complete report can be downloaded here:  The Expensive Truth About Your International Network Contract.

About Alsbridge Inc.

Alsbridge is a global consulting firm that helps companies transform and optimize the way they purchase, manage and leverage technology and business processes.   We have over 175 team members on 4 continents serving over 200 clients a year including more than 40% of the Fortune 500.  Alsbridge has helped hundreds of companies reduce costs and get more value from their vendors.  Our experienced consultants leverage proprietary tools and information databases to identify and engage the optimal vendors for your situation, negotiate best practice terms at fair market prices, and improve the way you work with your service providers.  Alsbridge clients utilize the most cost effective and value added sources globally for IT infrastructure services, network carrier services, hardware and software, application support and development, business processes and cloud services.

EDITORS/WRITERS: Journalists interested in covering the above topic or interviewing one of our SMEs please contact:

Scott Tims
Office: 214-378-7970 ext. 278
stims@thepointgroup.com 

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