Tata Communications Limited, a provider of A New World of Communications, has unveiled details of its 18-month intensive trial to deliver one of the industry’s first complete LTE Roaming Services to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). Available following rigorous testing, the LTE Roaming Service is designed to eliminate the interconnection and interworking complexities of global LTE roaming. The experience gained from the trial resulted in a managed service that simplifies global roaming complexity, offering a single interconnect point and facilitating protocol interworking across multiple mobile operators.
With 4G LTE revenues projected to exceed $100bn globally in 2014[i], enabling users to roam in 4G is critical to maximising revenues. Tata Communications’ LTE Roaming Service enables MNOs to fast track their roll-out of LTE roaming in a cost-effective and scalable manner, while creating differentiation in a highly competitive marketplace. The end-to-end managed solution leverages the company’s extensive experience as the largest mobile signalling inter-provider to streamline roaming interconnect arrangements between mobile operators, replacing the need for hundreds of bilateral peer associations with a single centralised robust interconnect point. This simplifies roaming interconnect to deliver a seamless user experience and assure service continuity as mobile operators migrate to 4G.
“Demand for 4G services is set to explode within the next two years, with some providers announcing price plans which are comparable to 3G. To support this, our LTE Roaming Service is already in place to reduce the complexity and risks for MNOs as they move to 4G. This drives efficiencies, allowing MNOs to focus on their core competencies and maximise the revenue opportunities around next-generation networks,” says Jeffrey Bak, Vice President, Product Management – Mobility Services, at Tata Communications.
Tata Communications researchers spent 18 months conducting extensive trials with vendors to understand the complexities of 4G roaming, and the challenges involved in making it work across different vendor Diameter Agent implementations. The team also tested and validated possible migrations scenarios which could arise from 2G / 3G to 4G transitioning, enhancing Tata Communications’ readiness to enable MNOs to deliver a seamless user experience by proactively addressing and managing multi-network issues. The testing allowed Tata Communications to gain the knowledge and operational enhancements required to create a streamlined unified global support framework, allowing MNOs to fast track LTE roaming cost-effectively.
Tata Communications will be discussing key developments in the mobile broadband space at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 25th – 28th, 2013. To find out more about these developments and the company’s LTE Roaming Service please visit Tata Communications’ stand: 2B85, located in hall 2.
