Why APAC Voice Traffic Is Different
Asia-Pacific represents the world's fastest-growing wholesale voice market by volume. India alone generates over 90 billion minutes of international voice annually, while markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines are expanding their digital infrastructure at pace. China, Japan, South Korea, and Australia each present distinct technical and regulatory environments that reward specialist routing knowledge.
APAC voice traffic is technically challenging for several reasons. The region encompasses some of the most heavily regulated markets in the world alongside some of the least. Transit hops between POPs are longer than in Europe or North America, introducing latency and jitter variables that require careful management. Local regulatory requirements — interconnect licensing, number portability schemes, CLI presentation rules — vary dramatically by country and change frequently.
The Quality Problem in APAC Termination
A persistent challenge in APAC is the quality gap between grey routes and premium termination. Grey routes — traffic carried via informal interconnects, often exploiting regulatory arbitrage — are prevalent in high-CPM markets such as Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. They offer attractive rates but carry significant risks:
- CLI stripping or substitution, causing calls to fail CLI-based screening at the destination
- Inconsistent ASR, with performance varying dramatically between time windows
- No SLA or accountability when routes degrade
- Regulatory exposure for carriers whose traffic transits unlicensed operators
In 2026, enterprise buyers — particularly those running contact centre operations into APAC markets — are increasingly unwilling to accept grey route quality variability. The premium for clean, direct-interconnect termination has compressed as supply has grown, making the quality investment more commercially viable than it was three years ago.
Key Routing Considerations by Market
India
India's international termination market is tightly regulated by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Only authorised international long-distance operators (ILDOs) may terminate traffic, and interconnect must be via approved points. Direct interconnect with one of the major ILDOs — BSNL, Tata Communications, Bharti Airtel — is essential for consistent, high-ASR termination. Indirect routing through multiple transit hops frequently results in CLI rejection.
China
China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile collectively control all international termination. CLI presentation rules are strict — calls presenting non-compliant CLI formats are rejected at the gateway. Latency from European or North American POPs can be a challenge; carriers with Hong Kong or Singapore POPs achieve significantly better PDD than those routing through trans-Pacific or trans-Atlantic paths.
Australia and New Zealand
Both markets have mature carrier ecosystems with strong regulatory oversight. ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) maintains active monitoring for grey route traffic, and carriers found routing via non-compliant paths face significant enforcement risk. Premium termination via direct agreements with Telstra, Optus, or Spark NZ provides the most reliable quality metrics.
Southeast Asia
Markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam are growing rapidly and present a mix of mature and emerging carrier infrastructure. Quality routing here benefits from Singapore-based POPs that provide low-latency access to regional carriers. Local SIM-based routes remain a significant grey-market presence in these markets and should be avoided by compliant carriers.
Routing Optimisation Techniques for APAC
POP Selection and Geodiversity
The single most impactful routing decision for APAC quality is POP selection. Traffic originating in Europe or the Americas should transit through Singapore, Hong Kong, or Tokyo POPs rather than routing direct from Western infrastructure. Sub-80ms latency to major APAC termination points is achievable from Singapore; the same traffic from a Frankfurt POP may see 180ms+, with corresponding quality degradation.
Separate Route Tables by Market
APAC markets each have distinct quality characteristics. Maintaining separate LCR route tables by country — rather than applying a single APAC-wide routing policy — allows for market-specific optimisation. What constitutes a good ASR for India termination (typically 45-55%) differs substantially from Japan (typically 65-75%).
Real-Time Quality Monitoring
Deploy active quality monitoring on APAC routes with shorter measurement windows than you would apply to European or North American traffic. APAC route quality is more volatile — a route performing well during business hours in Singapore may degrade significantly during peak periods in India (which occur at different clock times). 15-minute ASR and PDD windows are appropriate for high-volume APAC routes.
Redundant Carrier Agreements
For critical markets, maintain at least three carrier agreements with distinct interconnect paths. Single-carrier dependencies on APAC routes have caused significant service disruptions as individual carriers have faced regulatory action, technical incidents, or commercial disputes.
Mokrina's APAC Infrastructure
Mokrina operates POPs in Singapore and Hong Kong, with direct carrier interconnects across key APAC markets including India, Australia, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Our LCR engine applies real-time quality weighting across all APAC routes, and our carrier portal provides per-destination CDR analysis and quality metrics.