Takeaways from VoLTE and 5G Roaming session at WAS#9

Our 3rd VoLTE Roaming and 5G Breakfast Roundtable was held in at WAS #9 in Kuala Lumpur on April 8, 2019. The session discussions and interactions made clear that both VoLTE Roaming and 5G are key hot topics that we will continue to explore and measure progress over the upcoming months.

The following are some key takeaways from the session:

VoLTE Roaming

• The commercial issues are largely solved, now there are  mainly technical issues to address.
• The main commercial issue now is to grow the list of VoLTE roaming partners urgently.
• Solving technical challenges is very incremental: solve one and another appears, mainly revolving around lots of small compatibility issues between network, IMS core, handsets and OS.

5G Roaming

• A single global solution for 5G roaming will be unlikely as different use cases need different solutions.
• Local breakout will probably be necessary based on the specific use case.
• Mass market applications will be mainly streaming (enriched video) and IoT with specific security requirements.
• Security will be a huge issue due to the IoT involvement.
• Should there a an independent operator alliance?

Session Focus & Actions

• There was consensus to stick with the dual-track agenda on VoLTE Roaming and 5G Roaming.
• Idea for next time: invite an operator to zoom in on a specific experience to share with the community. Who volunteers?