Guest Post – How to better monetize LTE Roaming

Guest post written by Michael Van Veen, Global Sales Director for IPX services at SAP Mobile Services

For those of us who are walking around with LTE devices and have experienced high-speed data services, there is no going back: we feel the need for speed.  And naturally, wherever we travel we expect to get the same service performance that we experience in our home network.  We will suffer low-speed 3G connectivity if we have to, but only to get to our email or to chat with friends.  If we cannot get access to LTE for heavy-duty things like content-rich social media services, we will start looking for WiFi connectivity.

Mobile operators have always worked hard to follow their subscribers wherever they travel.  Roaming agreements make sure that their subscribers can use their device on visited networks: they can make and receive phone calls and SMS, and use data services.  The operators can even “steer” roamers to networks which are guaranteed to deliver the most commercial or technical benefits.  Now that we have entered the era of LTE, all of these efforts need to be repeated.