SAN FRANCISCO-North American Global System for Mobile communications operators had an upbeat story to tell international GSM carriers this year at the GSM in North America conference last week.
Last year’s conference saw frustrated European and other international GSM operators that had hoped GSM technology deployments in North America would mean roaming for their customers into the United States. Omnipoint Corp. was by then the only operator that had made significant strides in securing international roaming agreements. Today, the seven largest GSM operators have roaming agreements with a minimum of 50 international GSM operators. By Jan. 1, each will launch roaming with an additional 25 international carriers and each expects to have a minimum of 125 launches by April.
In addition, the North American GSM Alliance L.L.C. as a whole is taking large steps to promote roaming in the United States and Canada.
“A huge event is the GSM Global Network and our commitment to global roaming,” said Jim Healy, deputy chair of the global group GSM Association and president of operator Cook Inlet/Voicestream PCS L.L.C. “The strides made in the last 12 months have been immense.”
Last month, the GSM Alliance unveiled a new branding logo, called the GSM Global Network, and it intends to educate consumers on GSM technology’s extensive footprint.
“The North American GSM Alliance is increasing its promotions efforts to increase awareness of GSM customers from around the world that GSM networks in the U.S. and Canada are ready, wil-ling and able to serve your North American roaming needs,” said promotional material made available at last week’s show.
And Omnipoint has engineered a three-minute in-flight video feature story explaining GSM global roaming. The segment appears on all inbound and outbound flights on United Airlines, TWA, Northwest and US Airways.
The major GSM Alliance members also have agreed to offer a common, more simplified inter-operator tariff that will allow international GSM operators to offer consistent rates to their customers when they are roaming on GSM networks in North America. The major components include a small number of rate bands, the elimination of confusing local calling areas within North America and large decreases in charges for calls by most of the operators to destinations with the highest international toll traffic. North American GSM carriers will begin offering the new tariff by the first quarter.
Global business interests and international mergers and acquisitions have prompted the GSM Alliance’s parent association, the GSM Association, to establish the Global Roaming Forum, whose members will study ways to interface with technologies besides GSM, including Time Division Multiple Access and Code Division Multiple Access technologies.
The GSM Association and the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium earlier this month signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work on roaming between GSM and TDMA technologies, building on a previous agreement with the GSM Alliance. Significant progress is under way, with dual-mode handsets expected next year.
Healy said the association’s establishment of the forum is a move to recognize that the association’s members now have different business needs. For instance, Vodafone AirTouch plc operates GSM technology in Europe, and will have a pan-American CDMA footprint after its merger with Bell Atlantic Mobile. China Unicom, which plans to deploy CDMA technology alongside its GSM network in China, has said it wants a GSM/CDMA handset.
“We’re inviting inputs,” said Robert Conway, chief executive officer of the GSM Alliance. “At the end of the day, we will suddenly have a robust forum that enables discussion between the different standards.”
Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group, said the group already is working with major operators to facilitate roaming with GSM technology.
“We’re addressing roaming through GSM,” said LaForge. “GSM/CDMA handsets are right around the corner. We’re working through all operators. We have major GSM and CDMA operators in our camp … If they want to work with us on CDMA roaming, that’s fine.”
LaForge said a number of manufacturers are developing GSM/CDMA handsets and some will become available next year.