Unwired signs up for first WiMAX roaming agreement

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 11 March 2007 07:09

Your IT - Home IT

Unwired Australia has become one of the first WiMAX and planning-to-be WiMAX operators in the world to sign up to particpate in what is expected to be the first WiMAX roaming service.
Members of the WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance (WiSOA) have signed what is claimed to be the world's first WiMAX roaming agreement and have formed a partnership with MACH Sarl and Trustive BV, two leading providers of roaming services, to operate roaming facilities.

According to Unwired CEO, David Spence, "This is a landmark agreement that will enable WiMAX subscribers to remain connected anywhere in the world." All other members of WiSOA were party to the agreement."

Promoters of WiMAX are trying to position the technology as a competitive alternative to cellular technologies, particularly HSDPA, but while roaming agreements between HSDPA operators around the world are commonplace, there has until now been nothing for WiMAX.  However roaming could be compromised by lack of common spectrum in different countries in the region.

 MACH and Trustive will provide turn-key solutions for unified clearance, billing and interconnection, which will allow WiMAX users to roam to other networks as simply as opening their laptop computer, or other WiMAX-enabled devices.

These services will, it is claimed, also allow roaming interconnection with an aggregated global WiFi network, and hundreds of GSM and 3G networks, creating a global wireless IP clearing and roaming platform.

WiSOA intends that this initiative should be an 'open' process, and says it "welcomes the participation of other network operators and industry stakeholders to ensure adherence to technical and commercial standards."