International Mobile Roaming

INTERNATIONAL MOBILE ROAMING

Table of Contents
Roaming Overview 3
Inter-standard Roaming 3
International Roaming 3
Current Market and Issues 4
Steering of Roaming (SOR) 5
Roaming Fraud 5
Roaming Agreement Brokerage 6
Roaming Regulations 7
Mobile Roaming Market Revenues 7
Roaming Partners 8
Making an outgoing call when roaming 10
How incoming calls are handled 10
Technical Scenario National Mobile Roaming (Network Sharing) 13
Technical Scenario International Mobile Roaming (Network Sharing) 14
PTA Recommendations 15
What is SS7? 15
Basic call setup example 17
International Roaming QoS survey in Pakistan 19
Objectives 19
Deliverables 19
PTA’s Obligation 20
Qualification and Disqualification of Consultant 20
References 21

Roaming Overview

"Roaming is defined as the ability for a cellular customer to automatically make & receive voice calls, send & receive data, or access other services when travelling outside the geographical coverage area of the home network, by means of using a visited network."

Roaming can be defined as the ability for a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) cellular subscriber to automatically make and receive voice calls, send and receive data, or access other services when travelling outside the Home Operator’s network, by using a Visited Operator’s network. It offers the convenience of a single number, a single bill, and a single handset for a cellular subscriber. If the visited network is in the same country as the home network, it is known as National Roaming. If the visited network is outside the home country, it is known as International Roaming or Global Roaming.

The cellular subscriber, while roaming outside the home network, can use the network resources of any visited operator’s network that has a roaming agreement with the subscriber's Home Operator. Therefore, the operators need to have a commercial settlement between them so that their subscribers can use each other’s networks and... [continues]

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