RoamSmart team attended the WAS#9 event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between 8th and 11th of April. Here is a summary of the hot topics discussed in the main conference hall, made available by RoamSmart experts for our customers and followers, in order to remain updated with latest industry news:

RCS (Rich Communication Services)

RCS is expected to be the next generation upgrade to SMS. It has been clearly the main hot topic of WAS#9 event. Interesting panel sessions gathering the major players in the messaging industry to discuss the operational and commercial requirements that will enable RCS to become the future business messaging platform. Leading players in this market also showcased their success stories implementing RCS and explaining the reasons why Operators will benefit by moving forward with RCS, in addition to the subscriber expectations and needs.
Today, 74 operators launched RCS services. This number is expected to reach 110 live deployments by mid of 2019.

MIoT (Mobile Internet of Things) :

GSMA is issuing a dedicated handbook to cover MIoT roaming from different perspectives: difference between LTE-M and NB-IoT, Charging/Billing aspects for MIoT Roaming & Interworking, Testing process and Fraud/Security considerations. LTE-M use cases are time-critical like Alarms, Security, Medial applications, Wearables and Fleet Tracking. NB-IoT are rather non-critical like water meters, parking meters, Farming and environmental use cases.

VoLTE and 5G Roaming:

VoLTE deployments worldwide reached a total of 171 in 86 countries as of February 2019. Telenor shared insights about its VoLTE Roaming launch experience and proposed to simplify the testing procedures in order to ensure a quicker rollout.
5G Roaming is indeed a critical subject with so many question marks confirmed by GSMA members: Implement 5G roaming using the network slicing approach? How to implement steering in a 5G roaming scenario? Impact of launching 5G roaming on existing roaming agreement (AA.12 and AA.13)? How to exchange mission critical information (RAEX?)? Hoping to get few answers and better visibility during WAS#10 event presentations.

BCE (Billing and Charging Evolution):

BCE, the future Billing & Settlement Solution (meant to replace TAP in the mid/long term) was thoroughly discussed during closing day of WAS#9. GSMA Charging & Billing experts gave WAS delegates a first view of what can be expected and when to consider using BCE. Few open questions still need to be answered regarding the BCE readiness and the implementation process. BCE should be deployed exclusively for MIoT traffic as a first step before extending it as replacement of the existing TAP standard. TAP standard will not be enhanced anymore (no further versions to be released). WAS#10 is expected to provide insights on Operator field Experiences from early adopters.
Many exciting and challenging topics are changing the landscape of roaming and wholesale business during the coming years. RoamSmart is closely following these major technology shifts and will ensure to reflect them on its Unified Roaming Platform, the most comprehensive roaming management system in the market covering Roaming Rollout, RAEX Management (RAEX IR.21, RAEX IOT and RAEX opdata), Roaming Audit and Inbound Roaming Market Share.

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