Telkom CHIPAC details

Telkom officially launched their Customer Half IP Access Circuit (CHIPAC) service in February 2011.

CHIPAC is a diginet half access service, which consists of a dedicated synchronous data transfer service between a non-Telkom premises and a Telkom MPLS exchange where a ‘hand-over facility’ is installed.

In addition, a specialized access link is required between the wholesale customer’s network and the hand-over facility

CHIPAC is a constant bit-rate service with a dedicated amount of available bandwidth, in 64kbps increments between 64kbps and 1,984kbps.

Telkom Wholesale’s customer Internet Solutions (IS) has been trialling the service for a period, and IS CEO Derek Wilcocks told MyBroadband that CHIPAC provides them with more control over their telecoms offerings, and helps them to be more involved in the installation and repair of services.

Wilcocks added that they have not seen any commercial pricing for the Telkom CHIPAC service yet, and that the pricing structure will determine the success of the product.

Derek Wilcocks

Telkom clarifies CHIPAC misconceptions

MyBroadband recently reported that Telkom’s CHIPAC service may be a forerunner to local loop unbundling, but the company has clarified that this is not the case.

Marius Olivier, Senior Marketing Manager for Telkom Wholesale, explained that CHIPAC was not developed as a local loop unbundling (LLU) product, but was actually developed as part of Telkom’s endeavours in re-aligning products from the VANS / PSTS environment of the Telecommunications Act  to the ECS / ECNS environment introduced by the ECA.

Telkom’s CHIPAC product was subsequently launched and is currently made available to all OLOs.

Telkom CHIPAC

CHIPAC is essentially a wholesale product offering that includes a half Diginet , Hand-over Facility and Specialised Access service which ensures equivalence of input charges to all wholesale customers.

Olivier made it clear that CHIPAC is not a stand-alone product, and requires the provision of a Hand-over Facility (HOF) in one of the identified MPLS- enabled Telkom exchanges.

The HOF is provisioned to create a clear demarcation point between Telkom’s and its CHIPAC customers’ networks.

The Telkom Wholesale customer can carry the aggregated traffic from their Diginet lines at the exchange (CHIPAC circuits) to their own network using either a Telkom FNPLC service, their own self provided link or a third party providing the link for the Wholesale customer.

Olivier highlighted that no company can self-provide into a Telkom exchange, and in the case of self provisioning by a CHIPAC customer (or third party) it will be subject to the approved co-location business rules of Telkom SA.

Already available, but not much interest

Olivier said that their CHIPAC product was officially launched on the 1st of February 2011 and that Telkom Wholesale have informed their customers of this product and explained the building blocks and value proposition of this service to them.

Olivier indicated that he is somewhat perplexed by previous media statements which said that the Commercial CHIPAC pricing is not available yet as Telkom had furnished their Wholesale customers with pricing and service details in February 2011.