AT&T, Boingo Wireless, BT, KT and NTT DOCOMO among the First to Complete Successful Initial Network Assessments

Singapore – February 20, 2013 – The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the industry association focused on driving the next generation Wi-Fi experience, today announced that several of the world’s largest operators including AT&T, Boingo Wireless, BT, China Mobile, KT, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, Portugal Telecom, PCCW, Shaw Communications and True have participated in network assessments for the WBA’s Interoperability Compliance Program (ICP). The aim of this initiative is to streamline the way WBA members work together on a common set of technical and commercial frameworks for Wi-Fi roaming. The program is now open to all the WBA’s operator members.

Operators have been extremely receptive to this new program as it will make it easier for them to enter into roaming agreements with each other. By promoting and advocating a common set of requirements and procedures for Wi-Fi roaming, carriers will better understand how to integrate their networks to support roaming with greater consistency and efficiency.

“The program has been central in our efforts to find a way to break down the remaining barriers that hinder the development of international roaming partnerships. The program encourages operators to take a closer look at their networks and adopt a common set of requirements and procedures for Wi-Fi roaming. The operator community is working together to simplify roaming and we plan to expand our own Wi-Fi roaming partnerships with numerous operators by participating in this initiative. We are excited to see how this program will benefit the ecosystem over the coming year,” said Mr. Atsuhisa Shirai, Director/Head of International Roaming, Global Business Dept., NTT DOCOMO, INC.

“AT&T is proud to support the WBA in their effort to reduce the friction around Wi-Fi interoperability and continue to drive compatibility across the ecosystem,” said JR Wilson, chairman of the WBA and vice president of Partnerships & Alliances, AT&T Mobility. “This initiative will ultimately help establish clear guidelines for operators to create a roadmap of the evolution of hotspots and eventually develop a directory of various carriers’ Wi-Fi capabilities, which will enable carriers to deliver a better mobile data experience to customers when they travel abroad.”

“The ICP answers many of the questions for operators wishing to deploy Wi-Fi roaming, including comprehensive guidelines for various network sizes and configurations and the sharing of best practices such as billing procedures and customer service. This has created an environment where we can be aware of each other’s requirements and concerns and will significantly accelerate Wi-Fi roaming,” said Dr. Andrew Jun, VP of 3W Network Strategy, Network Group, KT Corporation.

“As the industry’s first global Wi-Fi operator and network aggregator, we welcomed the opportunity to share best practices and guidelines for Wi-Fi roaming and network interoperability as part of our WBA ICP network assessment,” said Bjorn Thorngren, vice president international markets for Boingo Wireless. “The resulting WBA compliance guidelines will simplify network aggregation and global roaming, benefitting operators, the industry, and most importantly, the consumers.”

“The past twelve months have seen the Wi-Fi and cellular user experiences become more closely aligned – the introduction of Wi-Fi roaming is a central to this movement. The program has helped us to revolutionize the customer experience in the new era of NGH-based Wi-Fi Roaming and we are delighted to be involved,” said Dr. Attapol Wannasarnmaytha, Deputy Director of Broadband Services, True Internet Company Limited.

Following the initial launch of the ICP in December, operators conducted a self-assessment analysis to gauge the quality of various network characteristics including: authentication, network discovery and selection, network access security, data clearing/settlement, customer support, information exchange and charging models, to ultimately deduce the readiness of their own network for Wi-Fi roaming.

As a result of the ICP, the WBA has been able to create a set of compliance guidelines, offering different support levels to operators. These range from simple integration requirements for roaming partners, to delivering support for the latest in session security, to more complex charging models and billing mechanisms required for the implementation of Next Generation Hotspot (NGH).

Shrikant Shenwai, CEO of the WBA, said: “Many wireless operators have come to see public Wi-Fi as an essential component for mobile connectivity. However, there have been inconsistencies in the way devices connect to and roam on to Wi-Fi networks. This program offers a solution as it enables operators to work together and make improvements to their own networks in order to ultimately deliver a more consistent roaming experience. After only a few months, ICP has proven a big hit with the operators involved and has now been opened up to our wider membership.”

In parallel with the ICP, the WBA is continuing its advanced trials of Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) which will give users easier access to a far greater number of public Wi-Fi access points around the world. The WBA expects the first public NGH deployments to take place in 2013. The WBA will also be hosting the Wi-Fi Zone in Hall 8.1 at Mobile World Congress 2013, where the focus will be on key themes such as next-generation hotspot migration, Wi-Fi roaming and offload, Wi-Fi and heterogeneous networks, and operator, vendor and device manufacturer engagement: https://wballiance.com/events/mwc-2013

About the Wireless Broadband Alliance

Founded in 2003, the aim of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) is to secure an outstanding user experience through the global deployment of next generation Wi-Fi. In order to make this a reality, the WBA is currently championing various initiatives in the Wi-Fi ecosystem including Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) trials, Wi-Fi Roaming and its Interoperability Compliance Program (ICP). Today, membership includes major fixed operators such as BT, Comcast and Time Warner Cable; seven of the top 10 mobile operator groups (by revenue) and leading technology companies such as Cisco, Google and Intel. WBA member operators collectively serve more than 1 billion subscribers and operate more than 5 million hotspots globally. The WBA Board includes AT&T, Boingo Wireless, BT, China Mobile, Cisco Systems, Intel Corporation, iPass, KT Corporation, NTT DOCOMO and Orange.

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Press Contact:
Stephanie Ross
Temono for Wireless Broadband Alliance
+44 207 089 8896
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