Tata Communications announces world's first LTE™ roaming peering with Telecom Italia Sparkle

New York/Mumbai/Rome: Tata Communications, a leading provider of a new world of communications, and Telecom Italia Sparkle, a leading global operator and the international services arm of Telecom Italia group, today announced the implementation of the world’s first LTE™ roaming peering between two IPX providers. This industry-first peering extends the global community of interconnected LTE™ enabled mobile network operators (MNOs) as 4G adoption continues to grow.

With 4G LTE™ revenues projected to exceed $100bn globally in 2014, LTE™ roaming enablement is critical to maximizing revenue growth. This peering will enable the exchange of LTE™ roaming traffic between Tata Communications and Telecom Italia Sparkle’s networks, creating an interconnected infrastructure that combines the quality and security of the respective IPX networks.

Genius Wong, senior vice president of global network services at Tata Communications, says, "We expect the demand for 4G services to explode within the next two years. To ensure that mobile operators are able to cope with this trend, it's crucial that the interconnection and interworking complexities of global LTE™ roaming are eliminated. Peering with Telecom Italia Sparkle supports our mission to drive efficiencies in the industry, enabling MNOs to focus on their core competencies while maximizing the revenue opportunities around next-generation networks."

The LTE™ roaming peering between Tata Communications and Telecom Italia Sparkle is an extension of an existing IPX inter-provider interconnect between the two companies, which supports live traffic including signalling, voice and data roaming, as well as end-to-end QoS.
Leonardo Cerciello, vice president of marketing at Telecom Italia Sparkle, says, "This LTE™ roaming peering with Tata Communications comes shortly after the launch of our diameter signalling solution that supports LTE™ roaming and will help increase the value of our respective networks for interconnected MNO's. We intend to extend these peering agreements further in order to facilitate MNOs in the adoption of new services, as 4G continues to gather pace."

As part of Tata Communications' aim to simplify global roaming complexity, the company recently introduced an LTE™ roaming service, as the latest addition to our IPX+ multi-services solutions portfolio. Built on the company's leading global data network, the LTE™ roaming service provides the reach, scale, and reliability for mission-critical operations and enables MNOs to fast track their roll-out of LTE™ roaming in a cost-effective and scalable manner, while creating differentiation in a highly competitive marketplace.

The end-to-end managed solution leverages the company's extensive experience as the largest mobile signalling inter-provider to streamline roaming interconnect arrangements between mobile operators, replacing the need for hundreds of bilateral peer associations with a single centralised robust interconnect point. This simplifies roaming interconnect to deliver a seamless user experience and assure service continuity as mobile operators migrate to 4G.