SMPF is what most of the business market uses. The broadband is provisioned on an existing PSTN line and customers can move relatively easily between ISPs and network operators for any of their services. To move between two BT Wholesale ISPs costs £11 and to move to an LLU operator is £34.86. With SMPF the end user may have their telephone line from one supplier, broadband from another and call charges may be billed by a third.
Conversely, if an end user is on MPF they have no choice but to take calls, lines and broadband from the same supplier. If they are fed up with any part of the service or if prices become uncompetitive then they must cancel the whole lot; phone line, telephone service and broadband. To go to back to SMPF requires the installation of a new PSTN line at a minimum cost of £75 and broadband at a cost of £34.86, plus any other costs involved in porting numbers etc. There may also be a period of downtime for the end user.
Furthermore, the migration process to MPF is not particularly straightforward and at a reseller level Migration Access Codes (MACs) are rarely requested. This can cause confusion between the MPF operator, BT Openreach, BT Wholesale and the incumbent ISP to the extent that migrations can be treated as ceases and a charge (in excess of £20 per line) generated to the reseller. If the incumbent ISP is not asked to issue a MAC the only way they know that a line is migrating away is if BT Openreach generates a notification of cease. This then has to wind its way through a number of back-end systems to the incumbent ISP for them to stop billing for the line. There have been many occasions during MPF migrations where although the PSTN line is ceased, the broadband that sits on it is not and the incumbent ISP, oblivious to the migration, continues to bill the reseller for the broadband line.
Griffin partners have business customers that need business-quality broadband and although we have access to MPF through our LLU suppliers we have not seen sufficient demand to overcome the drawbacks and warrant launching an MPF product. The prospect of 'locking-in' customers by creating barriers to exit may seem attractive at first but more experienced resellers will know that this is a short term view and ultimately there is no substitute for quality products and quality service to keep your customers. Of course the lock-in applies to resellers too. MPF services cannot be easily migrated so if you are reselling MPF and become dissatisfied with the quality and support you are receiving, or the price from your MPF supplier suddenly goes up, you will have to cease and re-provide telephone lines, DSL and minutes if you want to move to a different ISP.
Finally, Griffin pioneered white label broadband to help resellers protect their brand and build value in their own businesses. Today I am pleased to say that resellers have become a lot more attuned to thinking about whose business they are building when selecting new products and suppliers.
Source: Comms Dealer June 2009.
Andrew Dickinson
