Teams with iPass for WiFi Mobilise – but will operators bite?
Deutsche Telekom has teamed with iPass to offer a WiFi exchange service to its wholesale carrier partners, allowing operators to offer customers a more integrated offering around the use of WiFi when their users are roaming.
The solution, called WiFi Mobilise, will use iPass’ authentication and security, as well as its network of 500,000 WiFi hotspots. DT will offer a branded client to carriers to enable them to offer a more consistent WiFi roaming proposition.
Steve Wastie, SVP Marketing, iPass, said that the solution would allow DT to add additional capabilities to the hundreds of carrier relationships it has, using the assets iPass has in its core platform for authentication, settlement, billing and records.
As operators see more of their users travel abroad and require data roaming services a managed WiFi experience, that makes it easier and simpler for a user to authenticate with hotspots and use WiFi properties where available, could make sense for carriers as part of a data roaming bundle. Although it may be seen as diminishing cellular roaming revenues, peace of mind from a managed user experience that controls what is in bundle and what is not could make data roaming more attractive by resolving issues of performance, bill shock and inconsistent access. At the moment, the default option for many travellers is to switch off data roaming altogether.
“Deutsche Telekom is really taking leadership,” Wastie told Mobile Europe, “by providing a product that makes WiFi much easier to use, with a consistent user experience.”
“WiFi has re-emerged as an essential service for network access,” said Michael Wilkens, senior vice president International Businesses (IBU) at Deutsche Telekom. “Through this partnership we are in a unique position to provide an industry platform and enable a marketplace in the carrier’s world for the global exchange of WiFi traffic and inter-standard roaming, helping our third party operators meet the expectations and satisfy end user demand.”
WiFi Mobilize will be offered as part of the International Carrier Sales & Solutions (ICSS) portfolio, the international wholesale arm of Deutsche Telekom Group within the IBU organization.