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2012 Olympics to Provide Ideal Litmus Test for International Roaming Quality

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May 30, 2012

2012 Olympics to Provide Ideal Litmus Test for International Roaming Quality

By Beecher Tuttle, TMCnet Contributor


The 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London will grab plenty of headlines over the next few months, with the majority stemming from the on-the-field actions of competitors. A less reported, yet equally-critical component of the games will concern the technology that supports the events and the 7 million people who are expected to flock to the U.K. during the Olympics.


Possibly the biggest behind-the-scenes narrative centers on mobile operators and their ability to handle the massive influx of subscribers across their relatively small footprint. As the first real mega event of the smartphone era, the upcoming Summer Olympic Games are sure to bring near-unthinkable levels of voice and data traffic to service provider networks.

Due to the fact that most users are visiting from countries outside of the U.K., issues like data roaming and roaming quality are sure to be on the minds of mobile operators and their partners. This topic was recently discussed in detail at the Roaming World Congress, which just wrapped up in Barcelona.

The panelists opened up the discussion by recapping the 2008's UEFA European Football Championship, where service providers nearly over-prepared for capacity but fell well short on roaming initiatives, according to Telecoms' Paul Merry, who covered the event.

Mobile roaming wasn't an issue at that time – due to the prohibitively high price of roaming– but things are expected to be different this year in London. Recent legislative movements in Europe have made mobile roaming more reasonable, giving plenty of incentive for users to experiment with roaming over the next few months, says Merry.

Still, some panelists argued that international roaming rates remain too high to encourage use. Paolo Silvi, of Keynote SIGOS, said that subscribers would not make use of roaming without demonstrated quality of service, Merry adds. However, this concern could be mitigated by mobile operator partnerships with MVNOs, who could potentially set up cheaper local calling alternative.

"Whether the Olympics will be a great opportunity for all roaming players – bearing in mind preferred partners and steering will remain in place – is debatable," he writes. "What is known is the London 2012 Olympic Games will be an important testing ground for data roaming in a regulated market and an opportunity for data usage profile testing within an international mega-event."




Edited by Rich Steeves







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