According to TeleGeography, the world’s leading research firm on global international pricing trends:
MPLS IP VPN port charges are generally lowest in major cities in the U.S. and Europe. The median monthly price of a 1.5-Mbps T-1 port in New York was $377, while the price per month of a slightly larger 2-Mbps E-1 port in London was $532 per month—almost identical in terms of price per Mbps.
Prices tend to be higher outside North America and western Europe. In Hong Kong, a well-served and competitive market, the median monthly port charge for an E-1 was $753. In the less competitive markets of São Paulo and Beijing, E-1 ports cost $1,249 and $2,310, respectively. And in Dubai, the median price of an E-1 connection was an astonishing $14,683.
The main factors determining international MPLS IP VPN prices are the underlying cost of international network capacity and the competitiveness of the local communications market. For example, while Hong Kong’s telecom market is fiercely competitive, much of Hong Kong’s international IP traffic is routed over submarine cables, which raises carriers’ relative costs. Consequently, service providers charge more for VPN service in Hong Kong than they do in London.
The high cost of MPLS IP VPN service in Dubai is a reflection of the other key driver of costs: local competition. The local telecom market in the UAE is uncompetitive, being a government monopoly, and, despite adequate submarine cable supply, enterprise providers must pay high local access charges to connect customers in Dubai to their network. “We’re conditioned to think of global IP networks as ubiquitous and uniform, yet local access regulations and regional transport costs remain critical factors that drive the cost of connecting businesses in a city,” said TeleGeography analyst Gregory Bryan.
TeleGeography’s Enterprise Network Pricing Service provides in-depth data and expert analysis of pricing trends for international IP VPN, retail private line, and Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) services.
