Global Data Link Service

Section VI - Service Level Agreement

 

This Service Level Agreement (SLA) applies only to orders for GDL Service (i) received by Company on or after January 1, 2004, and (ii) for which the committed Term is at least twelve (12) months.

 

1.         Definitions: For purposes of this SLA, the following definitions will apply:

 

1.1       “End-to-End Network Availability” means the total number of minutes in which a specific circuit and local access are available to exchange data between the two Customer end points. It is determined monthly and is calculated by multiplying 100 times a fraction, the numerator of which is the Total Minutes in a Calendar Month less the total minutes of Non-Availability, and the denominator of which is the Total Minutes in a Calendar Month, which formula is shown immediately below:

 

100 x   Total Minutes in a Calendar Month – Total Minutes of Non-Availability

Total Minutes in a Calendar Month

 

1.1.1    “Total Minutes in Calendar Month” is deemed to be the following, based on the number of days in the applicable month:

 

Month in Days	Total Minutes*
31 Day Month	44,640
30 Day Month	43,200
29 Day Month	41,760
28 Day Month	40,320

 

* 24 hours x number of days x 60 minutes.

 

1.1.2    “Non-availability” is defined as a Priority 1 Network Outage as described in Section 3 of this SLA.

 

1.2       “Mean Time To Repair” or “MTTR” is defined as the average time to restore GDL Service during a Network Outage. MTTR only applies to Priority 1 Network Outages. MTTR is measured as a monthly average of the time taken to repair all Priority 1 Trouble Tickets on a specific GDL circuit. The length of each Network Outage on a specific circuit is totaled at the end of each billing month and divided by the corresponding number of Network Outages for that circuit for which a Priority 1 Trouble Ticket was opened during that billing month. MTTR is calculated as follows:

 

Cumulative length of Network Outage(s) per circuit

Total Number of Trouble Tickets per billing month per circuit

 

1.3       "Customer Provided Access" refers to situations where the local loop is purchased by Customer through a provider other than Company and is billed directly to the Customer.

 

1.4       “Outage” is an unscheduled period in which GDL Service is interrupted or unavailable for use.

 

1.5       “Type 1 Access” is when the local access portion (“local loop”) of the GDL Service is furnished by Company.

 

1.6       “Type 3 Access” is when Company orders the local loop from a local access provider.

 

1.7       “GDL Service” for the purpose of this SLA includes all network elements provided or ordered by Company to complete an end-to-end digital international private line service provisioned on Company’s global network.

 

1.8       "Service Degradation" means that the GDL Service is degraded to some extent but not to the point of being completely unavailable (e.g., slow data transmission).

 

1.9       “Trouble Ticket” is the official method used by Customer to communicate an Outage or Service Degradation to Company.

 

2.         Eligibility:  GDL ordered on or after January 1, 2004, and subject to at least a twelve (12) month minimum Term commitment are eligible for this SLA.  This SLA applies only to point-to-point circuits in Global Tier A, Global Tier B, and Global Tier C locations and excludes non-standard services such as International Cable Leases, Minimum Investment Units (MIUs), International Backhaul, Linear and unprotected service.  A list of current Global Tier A, Global Tier B, and Global Tier C locations are listed below, which locations are subject to change at Company’s sole discretion.  Further, this SLA only applies to Type 1 Access and Type 3 Access (i.e., Customer Provided Access is not covered by this SLA).  Customers co-located with Company are deemed to have Type 1 Access.

 

GLOBAL TIER A LOCATIONS
Australia	Hong Kong, China	Singapore
Austria	Ireland	South Korea
Belgium	Italy	Spain
Canada	Japan	Sweden
Denmark	Luxembourg	Switzerland
France	Netherlands	United Kingdom
Finland	New Zealand	U.S. Mainland, Alaska and Hawaii
Germany	Norway

 

 

GLOBAL TIER B LOCATIONS
Bulgaria	Hungary	Portugal
	India	Puerto Rico
Czech Republic	Malaysia	Russia
Greece	Philippines	Slovakia
Guam	Poland	Taiwan

 

 

GLOBAL TIER C LOCATIONS
Argentina	Colombia	Venezuela
Brazil	Panama	Mexico
Chile	Peru	US Virgin Islands

 

3.         Reporting of an Outage

 

3.1       If Customer experiences an Outage, Customer must notify the appropriate Company Customer Service Center and open a Trouble Ticket as further described herein. The Service Level Standards described herein only apply to Trouble Tickets that are designated as "Priority 1" in accordance with Section 3.2 below. If the Outage carries over to the next month, the Outage period is applied in the month in which GDL Service was restored. In order to receive a credit, Customer must (a) report the Outage by immediately opening a Priority 1 Trouble Ticket in order to receive the highest level of the Service Level Standards  described herein, and (b) submit in writing the following information no later than fifteen (15) days from the end of the calendar month in which GDL Service was restored:

 

·        Ticket ID number

·        Location A and Location B Addresses

·        Date and time Trouble Ticket was opened and GDL Service was restored by Company

·        Circuit/ ID(s) for the corresponding Outage

 

3.2       Outage and Service Degradation Priorities

 

Priority	Criteria
Priority 1	·        Total loss of GDL Service. ·        Degraded GDL Service (GDL Service is degraded to the extent where the Customer is unable to use it and is prepared to release it for immediate testing).
Priority 2	·        Degraded GDL Service (GDL Service is degraded but Customer is able/still wants to use it and is not prepared to release it for immediate testing).
Priority 3	·        Non-GDL Service affecting (a single non-circuit specific quality of service inquiry).

 

3.3       If the Customer does not initiate a Trouble Ticket with Company in accordance with this Section 3 and/ or does not release the circuit to Company for testing, Company will not be obligated to issue, and Customer will not be entitled to receive, an SLA Credit (as defined below) for the Outage.

 

4.         Service Level Standards

 

4.1       Service Level Standards include End-to-End Network Availability and MTTR performance objectives. Both performance objectives are subject to qualification as organized by global tier and access type. Performance is measured by the degree of Company’s control of the circuit and stability of the ocean and terrestrial cable systems. Examples include –

 

 

4.2       Types of Service Level Standards

 

*Circuit Availability % Translated to Available Minutes

 

 

4.3       For any billing month in which Company fails to meet a Service Level Standard and Customer is entitled to an SLA Credit, the SLA Credit will be applied against the circuit’s monthly recurring charges (MRC) excluding all taxes and Type 3 access charges. Customer may claim Network Availability and/or MTTR credits in a given month. SLA Credits will accrue up to a maximum of forty percent (40%) of the MRC associated with the affected circuit. CPE charges are excluded from the Service Level Standards.

 

5.         Credits

 

5.1       End-to-End Network Availability Credit Schedule (“Availability Credits”):

 

 

5.2       Mean Time to Repair Credit Schedule (“MTTR Credits”)

 

NOTE: MTTR Credit(s) can be applied in addition to the Availability Credit(s), provided, however, the total amount of all Credits (i.e., both Availability Credits and MTTR credits relative to a particular GDL circuit) cannot exceed forty percent (40%) of the MRC associated with such circuit.

 

EXAMPLE: Assume a GDL circuit links (or pairs) two Global Tier A countries with Type 1 Access at both ends of the circuits. Customer experiences two outages equal to non-availability of 490 minutes (8 hours and 16 minutes) during a calendar month. Assume further that the MTTR was as follows:

MTTR Trouble Ticket 1 = 4.7 hrs
MTTR Trouble Ticket 2 = 3.46 hrs
Average MTTR = 4.08

Customer would be entitled to the following Credit percentage against the MRC associated with the affected circuit: 30% (Network Availability Credit Percentage) + 4% (MTTR Credit Percentage) = 34% Credit.

 

5.3       At any time following the third consecutive month of the Service Level Standard not being met, Customer may terminate the affected circuit without liability except for charges incurred prior to termination of such circuit by providing Company at least thirty (30) days’ prior written notice. Further, at any time following the third consecutive month of the Service Level Standard not being met, Company may terminate the Service Level Standard with respect to the affected circuit by providing Customer with at least thirty (30) days’ prior written notice.

 

6.         Exclusions

 

6.1       The Service Level Standards described herein do not include Outages resulting in whole or in part from one or more of the following causes:

 

·        Any act or omission on the part of the Customer, its contractors or vendors, or any other entity over which the Customer exercises control or has the right to exercise control.

 

·        Labor strikes.

 

·        Natural disasters.

 

·        Scheduled maintenance on the part of the Customer, its contractors or vendors.

 

·        Scheduled maintenance on the part of Company that is within Company’s maintenance windows.

 

·        Lapses of Service associated with new installations (i.e., before new Service acceptances by Customer).

 

·        Lapses of Service or performance issues related to Customer Premises Equipment (CPE).

 

·        A Force Majeure Event as defined in the Agreement or the Guide.

 

·        Interruptions during any period where Company or its agent are not allowed access to Customer premises where the access lines are terminated.

 

·        Master Trouble Tickets opened by Company or by a qualified third party on behalf of Company (e.g., fiber cuts).

 

·        Customer’s use of GDL Service in an unauthorized or unlawful manner.

 

·        Company disconnects a circuit for non-payment.

 

·        Periods of Service Degradation.

 

·        With respect to End-to-End Network Availability (Type 1 Access), any act or omission on the part of any third party including, but not limited to, any local access provider.

 

·        With respect to End-to-End Network Availability (Type 3 Access) and MTTR, any act or omission on the part of any third party other than a local access provider.

 

·        Customer inquiry for circuit monitoring purposes only.

 

6.2       In addition to the exclusions described in Section 6.1 above, with respect to International GDL Service, the Service Level Standards  described herein do not include Outages resulting in whole or in part from any of the following situations:

 

·        GDL service cross-connected to an IPL circuit.

 

·        GDL service used to provide access to services like ATM, Frame Relay Service, or Internet services, etc.