TOMIA’s 5G Roaming Solution

A unified solution designed to automate, monetize and enable new use cases for consumers and enterprises on the journey to 5G roll out.

Challenges

The long and complex journey operators take to implement 5G roaming is filled with uncertainties and many expectations, from huge network transformation to complex business models.

5G NSA

5G Non-Standalone (NSA) is built on top of the existing 4G LTE core network to enable higher bandwidth and better user experience. 5G NSA is a ‘quick win’ as it requires minimum efforts to upgrade the roaming value-added services. Operators can position themselves as most technology-advanced, and, due to high traffic consumption, reach their wholesale targets faster. Operators face a new challenge to detect their 5G-capable devices and steer them wisely toward 5G networks according to coverage and their subscription profiles.

5G SA

The endgame for operators is to introduce full 5G Standalone (SA) services that support network slicing, which will allow them to offer differentiated services and commercial strategies. First off, operators must move all voice transactions from Circuit Switch (CS) to VoLTE as a fallback option for 5G voice. There must be contingencies between multiple network technologies, especially with the introduction of a new 5G core network architecture and signaling. All network value-added services need to be upgraded and virtualized to drive efficiency.

SEPP

5G SA defines end-to-end security through SEPP (Security Edge Protection Proxy) by encrypting all inter-operator messages and protect against cyber-attacks and fraud. Apart from the standard protocol, operators are looking for additional value-added services leveraging the fact that this proxy gateway is a mandatory function for 5G roaming scenarios. This includes welcome messaging services, monitoring of subscribers’ movements, identification of device types with several applications for IoT, and control of network slices.

TOMIA’s 5G Roaming solution

Be ahead of competitors to lead 5G roaming and build a platform for monetizing new segments

A Bridge to the future

TOMIA’s full set of solutions aims to create the best roaming experience, maximize revenues in 5G NSA, gain confidence to deploy the 5G SA roaming ecosystem, and enable emerging 5G roaming enterprise business and IoT use cases.

The Revolution

TOMIA’s solution addresses business requirements generated from existing 5G NSA deployments allowing easier implementation of 5G SA roaming to meet enterprise IoT and consumer needs.

Ensure a better user experience when roaming on 5G networks.
Support premium 5G SA packages for the consumer market.
Short time to market for emerging IoT enterprise use cases.
Advanced analytics to measure and ensure agreed SLA/KPI.
Establish 5G SA roaming leadership.

The Evolution

Cover all intermediate steps of the 5G evolution, from VoLTE roaming to network virtualization and multiple network slices. Apply new wholesale settlement models with innovative charging.

Technology agnostic services for VoLTE and 5G models.
Automatically detect 5G-capable devices and steer accordingly.
Comply with welcome SMS regulations when roaming in 5G networks.
Use Billing & Charging Evolution (BCE) settlement.
NFV-native infrastructure.

Use Cases

Quality of user experience Reinforce the brand Enterprise Billing

QoS

Global connectivity services will be tailored to various customers’ needs, from consumers segments to enterprise IoT requirements around quality of service (QoS). Operators must be able to operate in a multi-technology environment where steering decisions can no longer be static but based on business dynamics. In some cases, service localization will be needed. TOMIA’s Intelligent Preferred Network (IPN) provides a unified cost-effective steering platform that supports all mobile generations and all steering technologies to reach business targets, while providing a smooth roaming experience.

Reinforce the brand

Messaging services to roamers have evolved rapidly over the past few years. Initially, these messages were only informational to comply with regulation requirements and sent to all roamers indiscriminately. They were often regarded as a nuisance, especially by frequent travelers. Operators have been investing many resources to increase their roaming footprint and offer a ‘roam like at home’ experience. With 5G SA, operators can tailor campaign strategies and slices for specific use cases, segments and usage profiles, reinforcing their market leadership, innovative status and ensuring good quality of service.

Enterprise Billing

Operators will begin to offer differentiated services on the back of 5G to allow enterprises across a host of vertical market segments to charge for specific IoT use cases and data content. This will allow them to push for new commercial models to boost revenue. The Billing Charging Evolution (BCE) settlement process has been introduced by the GSMA to support complex 5G partner ecosystems and the automation required by operators to bill and settle roaming use cases. BCE has the potential to manage B2B2C agreements thanks to its inherent support of flexible charging models and automation.