Service Level Agreement

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SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT (SLA)

The following SLA applies only to Customers executing Master Service Agreement with “INTERSAT COMMUNICATION SERVICES FZCO”. This document describes the services provided by I NTERSAT and the “INTERSAT’s SUPPORT HELPDESK” and details of the fault reporting process and the escalation procedure once the Service is put into operation.

The SLA is valid as part of the Master Service Agreement between the Customer and INTERSAT.

In addition:

"SUPPORT HELPDESK" is the access point for all technical trouble reporting for services provided by INTERSAT.

"SUPPORT HELPDESK" is staffed with qualified personnel 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

"SUPPORT HELPDESK" manages the fault resolution process in co-operation with its Network Operation Centre (NOC) and the relevant Earth Station Network Operations Centre

  • Fault Reporting:

    All faults related to INTERSAT’s services, should immediately be reported to the INTERSAT’s SUPPORT HELPDESK by opening a Trouble Ticket with the relevant priority level. INTERSAT reserves the right to reclassify the priority level upon its evaluation and will notify the Customer accordingly. If the Customer disagrees with INTERSAT’s evaluation, the Customer can escalate to a higher level of management.

    INTERSAT SUPPORT HELPDESK CONTACTS:
     Telephone : +254 730 100100
    Mobile#1 : +254 720 621621
    Mobile#2 : +254 733 621621

    EMAIL AND CHAT CONTACTS:
     E-mail : support@intersat.ae
    Skype : intersatsupport

    When contacting the INTERSAT’s SUPPORT HELPDESK, please be prepared to provide the following information:

    • Trouble Ticket number (if assigned) or your Customer-ID and Link-ID.
    • Name, company name, telephone numbers
    • Date and time of fault occurrence
    • Description of the problem

  • Ticket Administration:-

    • "Trouble Ticket:" A unique identifier for the fault. The fault should be classified as either High, Medium or Low priority, as described below:-
    • "High Priority Critical Failure":A term defining a complete system failure of the Services provided by INTERSAT. It means that an Outage has occurred that disables or materially affects all running products and services provided by INTERSAT. (Such as, but not limited to, satellite failure, Earth Station failure).
    • "Medium Priority Service Failure":A term defining a failure in the system or failure to meet the technical specifications in the Service-Order that materially affects parts of the running service provided by INTERSAT. It means that an Outage has occurred that diminishes or disables some running services/protocols provided by INTERSAT. (Such as, but not limited to, certain IP/ports not working, high packet loss, partial outage, one hardware component failure in a multi-component environment).
    • "Low Priority Quality Failure":A term defining a failure in the system or failure to meet the technical specifications in the Service-Order but the Services is not impaired or the Customers obligations to third parties are not breached. (Such as, but not limited to, unreachable VoIP numbers, IP-destinations, certain websites not reachable).
    • "Configuration Changes":A term defining a request for service such as configuration changes that will be handled during normal business hours.

  • Feedback and Escalation Procedure:-

    INTERSAT HELPDESK will initiate troubleshooting process immediately after any fault is notified by the Customer and soon after a “Trouble Ticket” has been raised. An initial investigation report (email) will be sent to customer within 30mins of fault reporting and if the same cannot be resolved at within 1 (one) hour, shall be subject to the following feedback and escalation procedure:

    • "High Priority Critical Failure":
      • Within two (2) hours from notification of a fault, the customer will be informed regarding immediate actions to remedy the fault.
      • If the malfunction persists and is attributable to equipment or network parts controlled by INTERSAT, the customer will be kept regularly informed by SUPPORT HELPDESK, as developments occur or within:
        • Six (6) hours, issue a status report
        • Twelve (12) hours, issue an updated status report
        • Twenty four (24) hours, issue a written statement signed by the NOC manager or his representative, on how the problem will be solved and when results can be expected.
    • "Medium Priority Service Failure":
      • Within two (2) hours from notification of a fault, the customer will be informed regarding immediate actions to remedy the fault.
      • If the malfunction persists and is attributable to equipment or network parts controlled by INTERSAT, the customer will be kept regularly informed by SUPPORT HELPDESK, as developments occur or within:
        • Six (6) hours, issue a status report
        • Twelve (12) hours, issue an updated status report
        • Twenty four (24) hours, issue a written statement signed by the NOC manager or his representative, on how the problem will be solved and when results can be expected.
    • "Low Priority Quality Failure":
      • Within the following normal working day from notification of a fault, the customer will be informed regarding immediate actions to remedy the fault
      • If the malfunction persists and is attributable to equipment or network parts controlled by INTERSAT, the customer will be kept regularly informed by SUPPORT HELPDESK, as developments occur or within:
        • Two (2) working days, issue a status report
        • Four (4) working days, issue a written statement signed by the Support Manager, or his representative, on how the problem will be solved and when results can be expected.

    If for any reason, the customer is not satisfied with the problem resolution or believes that the problem has not received the adequate attention within the feedback time allowed, the customer can escalate to a higher level of management by the following schedule:
    Management Contacts: (noc@intersat.ae)
    Support Manager: +254-723780754
    NOC Manager: +254-722843356
    Chief Technical Officer: +254-733500065


  • Scheduled Maintenance:

    The SUPPORT HELPDESK is also responsible for alerting customers for any planned maintenance in services. INTERSAT will provide at least seven (7) days notice prior to a planned outage. A shorter notice period may apply in case of emergency maintenance requirements.

  • Special Investigation Request:

    If a customer is not satisfied with a particular clearance from SUPPORT HELPDESK, or for any reason suspects that the problem is not entirely resolved and requires a more in-depth investigation, the customer can request a special report. Such request should be addressed in writing to the Support Manager, who will acknowledge the receipt and provide a tentative time-frame within which the requested report can be made available.

  • Quality of service provided:

    The operational parameters valid for the satellite link, when equipment on customer’s side is within INTERSAT’s specifications, are:

    • Availability 99.5% per year
    • BER equal to or better than 10E-6.

  • Network Availability

    • Scope:The Network Availability SLA is 99.5%. “Network Availability” refers to the absence of Service outages associated with the VSAT link of Customer to the INTERSAT’s Teleport network. Network availability is measured from the managed Teleport network to the customer’s Satellite gateway and associated satellite space segment
    • Outage:The outage period will start when a service interruption is reported by CUSTOMER to INTERSAT’s SUPPORT HELPDESK and ends when the Service is resumed and acknowledged by CUSTOMER (“Outage Period”). The CUSTOMER shall use all reasonable efforts to cooperate and aid INTERSAT in curing such failure/outage. A creditable outage shall be deemed to have occurred on a Service, if the Outage Period exceeds sixty (60) consecutive minutes (“Creditable Outage”).
    The following events, including without limitation, shall not be considered as a Creditable Outage:
    • Any outage which is the result of, or attributable, in whole or in part, to the CUSTOMER’s fault or negligence, regardless of who is operating or controlling the facilities or the act or omission of the CUSTOMER, including without limitation, its contractor, customer, agent, assignee or employee.
    • Interference, heavy rain outage, sun outage, and other events beyond the reasonable control of INTERSAT; whereby INTERSAT undertakes to design the receiving infrastructure in a manner that provides a minimal usage percentage of 99.0%
    • INTERSAT’s Service maintenance or pre-emptive action, in order to protect the overall health and performance of the Satellite.

  • Network Availability Formula:

    [(Total minutes of Service network downtime) ÷ (Total minutes in the Service month)]

    Network Availability is measured from the ingress interface up to, but not including, the egress interface at the Teleport network.

  • Service Level Agreement Remedy:

    • General:
      INTERSAT’s performance with respect to each SLA shall be determined on the basis of undisputed data collected reported by INTERSAT.
    • Exclusions:
      In addition to exclusions described herein, in calculating SLA compliance, INTERSAT will exclude:
      • Failures resulting from outages or disruptions caused by Customer;
      • Service or data failures due to reasons of Force Majeure
      • Outages associated with scheduled maintenance events; and
      • Outages or disruptions caused by the Customer’s failure to maintain site specifications as set forth below.
        • Clean and regulated power-supply by means of deploying True-Online Double-conversion UPS of adequate capacity.
        • Dedicated electric earthing for all VSAT equipment and associated components
        • Dust-free and air-conditioned environment: The room temperature must be between 22 to 28 Degrees Celsius for the trouble-free operation & for the long-life of VSAT equipment.
        Customer is responsible for the necessary site preparation, maintenance and inter-connection where applicable, and specification adherence as reasonably determined by INTERSAT and set forth in guidelines that INTERSAT may issue from time to time.

      No SLA’s will be applicable if the CPE/VSAT equipment,

      • has been subjected to physical or electrical stress, misuse, neglect, accident or abuse, or damaged by any other external causes;
      • has been repaired or altered by anyone other than INTERSAT or INTERSAT’s authorized subcontractors or affiliates, without INTERSAT’s express and prior written approval; or
      • is used in violation of applicable law or in violation of instructions furnished by INTERSAT.
    • Customer Credit Claim Procedure: To claim a credit, Customer must submit a written claim to INTERSAT within 14 Days where an SLA was not met. No credit claims will be entertained if any written claim is not received by INTERSAT within the above stipulated time-frame. Customer’s sole remedy for INTERSAT’s failure to meet any and all SLA’s shall be to receive a credit pro-rata of the Monthly Fee for each site, net of discounts and taxes, billed to Customer for the month in which INTERSAT failed to meet the SLA for each SLA outlined. The claimed credit if substantiated will be passed on to CUSOMTER in the subsequent monthly billing cycle. The maximum SLA credit that will be applied shall not exceed 25% of the Monthly Fee for each affected site, net of discounts and taxes.

    SLA Credit Table

    Target 5% Credit 10% Credit 25% Credit
    Network Availability 99.5% 99.49% - 94.5% 94.49% - 91% <90.99%

  • Force Majeure:

    Neither Party shall lose any rights hereunder or be liable to the other party for damages or losses, on account of failure of performance by the defaulting party if the failure is the result of an Act of God (e.g., fire, flood, inclement weather, epidemic, or earthquake); war or act of terrorism, including chemical or biological warfare, embargo; governmental acts, orders, or restrictions; and the defaulting party has exercised all reasonable efforts to avoid or remedy such force majeure. The defaulting Party must provide written notice of the force majeure event to the remaining Party within seven (7) business days of such event.

  • Governing Law and Compliance with Laws:

    This Agreement shall be governed in its entirety by the Laws of the United Arab Emirates. This Agreement is subject to all applicable laws, statutes and regulations. It is the legal responsibility of the CUSTOMER to ensure compliance, including compliance of its sub-contractors if any, with these laws.

  • Disputes:

    Any controversy, claim or dispute arising out of or relating to this Agreement, shall be settled solely and exclusively by binding arbitration in the United Arab Emirates. All such controversies, claims or disputes shall be settled in this manner in lieu of any action at law or equity; provided however, that nothing in this subsection shall be construed as precluding the bringing an action for injunctive relief or other equitable relief.

  • Notices:

    Notices to INTERSAT shall be sent to:

    Intersat Communication Services FZCO,

    Suite E-102-1, Wing-E, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai, UAE
    Fax: +97143724123
    Email: legal@intersat.ae