At the end of last week, the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) unveiled a comprehensive definition of Carrier Wi-Fi, to help drive closer alignment with its cellular counterparts. Carrier Wi-Fi is seen by operators as an important step to improving the Wi-Fi user experience, as it is increasingly used for cellular offload and delivering new services. The WBA Guidelines concluded that the following standardized Carrier Wi-Fi capabilities are needed to ensure networks can reliably scale to meet the requirements of the industry:

  • Consistent User Experience
    • Network Discovery and Access
    • Authentication and Security
    • Service Experience
  • Fully Integrated End-to-End Network
    • Network Architecture
    • End-to-End Service Provisioning
  • Network Management
    • Network Quality
    • Network Security
    • Network Manageability

Carrier Wi-Fi is currently an industry buzzword, however, the term has lacked a universally recognized meaning among operators, vendors and industry bodies alike. A new set of guidelines, led and published by the WBA, aims to provide that common vision to the entire industry on what constitutes Carrier Wi-Fi, drilling down to the details of the functional requirements of the network, analyzing what is available today and discussing what work still needs to be completed.

Nearly 20 of the world’s largest operators and vendors were brought together to participate including: Accuris Networks, AT&T, BSG Wireless, BSkyB, BT, CableLabs, China Mobile, Cisco, Comcast, Ericsson, Huawei, Intel Corporation, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, Qualcomm, Ruckus Wireless, SK Telecom, Time Warner Cable and Towerstream. The WBA has also started initial consultations with numerous industry bodies including the 3GPP, Broadband Forum, GSMA, NGMN and the Wi-Fi Alliance®.

“To improve and enhance the user experience and deliver the desired services and a superior user experience has always been at the forefront in terms of the WBA’s priorities. By defining Carrier Wi-Fi, the industry can now work together to put the building blocks in place to deliver advanced Wi-Fi networks,” said Shrikant Shenwai, CEO of the WBA. “This work will help ensure that consumers connecting to a carrier Wi-Fi network will be exposed to the best user experience possible, regardless of time or location.”

The WBA will also send the paper to other industry bodies for their feedback and liaise how to progress Carrier Wi-Fi development and the potential work that still needs to be carried out. Updated versions that incorporate the progress made by the industry bodies are expected to be published in the future. To view the current whitepaper, please visit – https://wballiance.com/resource-center/white-papers

The WBA will host a Carrier Wi-Fi Summit taking place in Hall 8.0 on the 24-27th February during Mobile World Congress 2014. The dedicated four-day summit will bring together over 500 key influencers from across the wireless ecosystem to discuss the future of Carrier Wi-Fi. To find out more about how to get involved in the Carrier Wi-Fi Summit or to register as a participant, please visit – https://wballiance.com/carrier-wi-fi-summit