JAKARTA, Indonesia—Singapore Telecom (SingTel) embraced its Asian subsidiaries, Australia’s Optus and the Philippines’ Globe Telecom, to set up new roaming services for data communications. Later this year, it plans to announce similar agreements with its additional Asian subsidiaries, including PT Telkomsel in Indonesia in the fourth quarter.
The so-called General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Roaming Exchange (GRX) will enable SingTel subscribers to access secure, high-speed wireless connections to e-mail, the Internet, corporate intranets and local area network (LAN) services when outside Singapore. Masagos Zulkifli, SingTel’s director of wholesale international carrier services, said roaming users need access to data any time, anywhere.
Furthermore, Zulkifli revealed that SingTel aims to provide a single connection for mobile operators to access virtually any roaming partner in the world. Mobile operators also enjoy network connectivity and many value-added services, including end-to-end network management and local loop and support services.
In related news, SingTel Mobile and other leading mobile operators in Asia Pacific, including China Mobile and Hong Kong’s Hutchison, are participating in Aicent, the largest GPRS roaming network in the region.
John Hoffman, senior director of technology evolution for the GSM Association, said Aicent has played a key role in bringing together the operators and making GRX services a reality.
