A guide to On Demand pricing
Knowledge Centre
In this guide:
Commercial model
Flex model
Fixed model
Billing
Explore topics:
Welcome guide
Registration
Buildings | Ports
Connections | Cloud
IP Access | Data centres
Delivery | Bandwidth
APIs | Pricing
Resilience | Operations
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The On Demand commercial model
Two commercial models are available via On Demand:
| Happy to embrace per hour billing | Wants fixed monthly billing |
| Sometimes needs bandwidth for short periods (6 months or less), as well as traditional 12/24/36 month fixed term contracts | Requires standard fixed term contracts (12-36 months) only |
| Typically doesn't like one off installation charges | Are happy to pay installation charges (NRCs) |
| Might want to flex bandwidth via an API | Does not need to flex bandwidth |
| Might want to temporarily boost bandwidth on top of an existing fixed contract | |
On Demand (flex) model
Under the On Demand / flex model, charges are split between ports and circuit connections (Ethernet / Cloud / IP Access).
The On Demand / flex model is mainly based on rental charges; the only exceptions being ports in enterprise locations and cross connect & cabling charges which attract a one-off installation fee.
A point to point data centre connection is shown below for illustration. Note that IP Access and hosted cloud ports do not attract any B end charges or port commitment.
Ports are based on fixed bandwidths of 1Gbps, 10Gbps and 100Gbps and are available on a 3 or 12 month contract. Circuit connections are available at speeds between 10Mbps and 20Gbps and are available on a 1 hour flexible contract or a 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36 month fixed term contract.
Note that port bandwidths are static and cannot be upgraded. Circuit bandwidths are dynamic and can be flexed (1 hour contract only), temporarily boosted or permanently upgraded.
Under the Bandwidth Boost feature, circuit connections that are base on a fixed 3-36 month commitment can be temporarily upgraded up to a maximum bandwidth equal to the port speed. Customers are charged a premium for this feature.
1 hour flex contracts allow customers to benefit from a fully flexible Bandwidth On Demand (BOD) service, with the ability to change the bandwidth of the circuit up to the full port speed on a per hour basis. Customers can convert a 1 hour flex contract to a 3-36 month fixed term commitment at any time.
For 1 hour flex, customers are invoiced for their total cumulative bandwidth usage at the end of each month – for example, 408 hours (17 days) at 1Gbps and 336 hours (14 days) at 100Mbps.
In Europe, 1Gbps data centre ports on a 12 month contract are priced at £100 per month (UK) and €100 (mainland Europe). 10Gbps ports are priced at £150 per month (UK) and €150 per month (Europe). Port pricing for data centres in Asia and enterprise office buildings globally is aligned to individual On Demand countries. Virtual cloud ports do not attract any charges.
Pricing for circuit connections between key data centres and clouds is based on 6 metro zones:
| UK | UK |
| Europe Z1 | Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden |
| Europe Z2 | Spain |
| Europe Z3 | Belgium, Switzerland |
| Asia Z1 | Japan |
| Asia Z2 | Singapore |
| Asia Z3 | Hong Kong |
| USA | USA |
National KDC/cloud services, and circuit connections that terminate in standard data centres and enterprise offices are based on an individual country structure. International services are based on 25 zones, covering mainland Europe, Asia-Asia, USA-Europe, USA-Asia and Europe-Asia.
To find out more about On Demand pricing, please contact your Colt account team and ask for an On Demand account.
Connections based on a 3-36 month fixed term contract can be permanently upgraded up to the port speed at any time. Note that ports in enterprise buildings require a minimum commitment of 12 months. Hosted (virtual) cloud ports are provided free of charge.
Once a fixed term contract expires (for example, a port or circuit connection on a 12 month contract) the rental charge remains the same. After the contract has expired, circuit connections can be cancelled with immediate effect. Ports can also be cancelled after the contract has expired, although ports with active circuit connections will remain active.
After a circuit connection contract has expired, customers can also request a new fixed term commitment – for example triggered by a bandwidth upgrade. Contract renewals on On Demand ports are not supported - after the initial 3/12 month contract term On Demand ports move to a rolling 1 hour contract which remains in place until the port is cancelled.
Traditional (fixed) model
Under the traditional / fixed model, charges are based on a traditional installation and monthly rental model. Circuit connections are purchased under a 12, 24 or 36 month contract term. Rental charges are fixed, and do not vary from month to month unless the circuit bandwidth is upgraded or boosted.
Ports attract a one-off installation charge and circuit connections attract a one-off installation and monthly rental charge. Unlike the OD/flex model, ports do not require a contractual commitment.
The pricing for a 12 month fixed contract (2 x ports + 1 x circuit connection) is broadly equivalent to a 12 month traditional circuit contract based on an NRC and MRC.
Under the traditional / fixed model, customers can permanently upgrade connections up to the maximum port speed. Once the fixed contract expires, the rental charges remain the same and customers are able to upgrade the bandwidth or make a new fixed term commitment.
The Bandwidth Boost feature described above is available on all circuit connections purchased under the traditional / fixed pricing model.
Fixed term contracts can be cancelled, but customers are required to pay a cancellation charge to cover the rental charges within the remaining contract term.
Standard discounts apply to installation and rental charges on circuits under 24 and 36 month contract terms.
Additional charges and general policy
In an enterprise building, where Colt needs to build a new PoP site creation, customers are charged a one off installation charge in ADDITION to the standard port charge to cover internal cabling costs in line with standard Colt policy.
Data centre cross connects are charged in line with standard Colt pricing and policy.
There are no charges for hosted cloud ports (AWS, Azure, Google, Oracle, IBM). Amazon Dedicated ports attract a one off installation charge to cover the port charge and the installation charge for the cross connect in the data centre hosting the AWS Direct Connect PoP.
New sites can also be created in offnet buildings that are within 250m of the Colt fibre network (“nearnet buildings”). By default, customers are charged a one-off installation charge. On request, this installation charge can be amortised across a fixed term contract of 12 months or greater. Customers should speak to their Colt Sales manager for further details about enablement of nearnet buildings.
The pricing for fixed contracts are aligned to Colt’s traditional pricebooks, such that the pricing for a 12 month fixed On Demand contract (2 x ports + 1 x circuit connection) is broadly equivalent to a 12 month traditional contract based on an NRC and MRC.
It is important to note that per GB usage based billing (“UBB”) is NOT supported under the On Demand offering.
Legacy pricing model
The legacy pricing model based on traditional / fixed contracts with an additional 1 hour flex option is no longer offered to new customers.
However, Colt will continue to support this model for EXISTING customers until further notice.
Customers who wish to migrate to one of the new commercial models are advised to speak to their Colt Sales team.
Enablement of port and circuit contracts
The legacy pricing model based on traditional / fixed contracts with an additional 1 hour flex option is no longer offered to new customers.
However, Colt will continue to support this model for EXISTING customers until further notice.
Customers who wish to migrate to one of the new commercial models are advised to speak to their Colt Sales team.
The price tool allows different port speeds, circuit connection speeds and contract lengths to be selected to generate an online quote.
Billing
On Demand services are invoiced on a monthly basis, in arrears. is important to note that under the On Demand flex pricing model, billing is on a per hour basis for both flex and fixed contracts. This means that the monthly rental charges for both 1 hour and 3-36 month fixed term contracts will vary depending on the number of days in the month.
In contrast, under the fixed/traditional pricing model, monthly rental charges do not change from month to month.
The invoice will include all charges within that month, including one off port and circuit installation fees and recurring charges for circuit connections. Customers are able to add their own references to ports and connections to allow invoices to be easily reconciled against network inventory.
An example invoice is shown below.
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