International roaming takes a few steps forward: Carriers, trade associations debate demand

International roaming has existed nearly exclusively in the GSM world-and even there, aside from Omnipoint, only on a limited basis. "Most carriers' international roaming revenues represent less than 1% of their business," said Cindy Patterson, director of international for GTE TSI.

While the GSM memorandum of understanding has long offered members a template for forming international roaming agreements, the CDMA Development Group and the Universal Wireless Consortium have only just released similar documents. Such guidelines may spur international roaming agreements in the code division multiple access (CDMA) and time division multiple access (TDMA) worlds, but some operators are still skeptical of the demand.

"There's only a sliver of an audience that needs it," said a Sprint PCS spokesman. Sprint PCS currently has no international roaming agreements.

"It's a solution in search of a question," said David Berndt, program manager for wireless mobile communications at The Yankee Group. There isn't a clear demand for international roaming, and corporate travelers often rely on extra phones at overseas offices because it's easier and cheaper than roaming, he said.

The trade associations think differently. Leo Nikkari, vice president of strategy and programs for the UWC, said a demand exists and that international roaming could yield significant revenue. The UWC board voted last week to approve a document detailing a roaming term sheet. The UWC aims not only to reduce the complexity and cost of members' international roaming agreements, but also to set service quality requirements. The association is considering offering carriers that meet these requirements use of the UWC's service mark, which would be "almost like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval," Nikkari said.

The CDG last month introduced cdmaConnect. "It's a program with GTE TSI and Cibernet to bundle all the operational services that a carrier would need to initiate international roaming over IS-41," said Terry Yen, team leader for international roaming for the CDG. The program offers members one stop for data clearing, financial settlement, billing standards, call validation and delivery, fraud management and connectivity.

CdmaConnect is designed to encourage roaming among international players, Yen said. "The objective is that we take the experience, products and solutions that have worked in the U.S., package that and give it to new IS-41 operators so it won't take them 10 years to reach that level," he said. Some U.S. CDMA carriers, including Bell Atlan-tic, AirTouch and Ameritech, offer roaming to Hong Kong, he said.

GTE TSI's Global-Roam service helps carriers overcome incompatible standards by roaming between GSM, CDMA, TDMA, AMPS and personal digital cellular networks. Roamers can place calls directly and receive calls to their wireless phones via an assigned temporary local directory number. All charges appear on the customer's wireless bill.

CDMA carriers may not take advantage of inter-standard roaming because it's more expensive for roamers who have to rent phones-something GSM roamers must do to travel to networks that use different frequencies, Yen said. Dual-band GSM handsets are not yet available.

Dual-mode CDMA/AMPS handsets, widely available today, could make international roaming be-tween CDMA and AMPS networks easier. South America may become a significant market for roamers because of AMPS coverage there, Yen said.

Omnipoint is the leader in international roaming, with 70 signed roaming agreements and 49 operational agreements. "It distinguishes us from other operators," said April Van Ness, senior roaming coordinator for Omnipoint. The company finds that most roaming occurs from international users traveling to the U.S. The way fee structures are set up, the host carrier, or the network being visited, typically makes more money, Yen said.

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