THE ROAMING KILLER

A Thriller of a song By My-Call Jest-On

It's close to midnight

And grey routes are lurking in the dark

Under the moonlight

You see a fraud that almost stops your heart

You try to scream

But NO-VoLTE fails your call before you make it

You start to freeze

As the IPX fails right before your eyes

You're paralyzed

'Cause this is Roaming killer, Killer night 

And no one's gonna save you from signalling storm about to strike

You know it's roaming killer, killer night

You're fighting for your punter from a Roaming killer tonight, yeah ...

Well it IS Halloween; can you blame me for allowing my imagination run a bit wild? (even if it’s outright shameless plagiarism.)

Having said that, from OTTs to WiFi, from Travel Sims to Regulation, we’ve had our fair share of scares of a Roaming Killer on the prowl, but with each one it can be argued that this only helped Roaming become stronger. AT&T were at the forefront in embracing WiFi Roaming and making it part of their roaming plans and many operators like T-Mobile enabled WiFi calling, this encouraged customers to switch their phones on while roaming and not be so “silent” anymore (Didn't make a bit of difference to married men like me though ... silence is our best friend !)

Even Roaming regulation which most MNOs cried out against, led to bringing roaming into focus, In Europe challenger operators like Free Mobile and Three used the lower roaming prices to offer competitive roaming tariffs and even win domestic market share. The Roaming Killers turned out to be just friends in Halloween costumes looking for a "bit of candy".

The scary imps with the trident in hand and pointy red tails calling themselves ARPs (Alternate Roaming Providers) disappeared with their tails tucked in between the devil only knows where.  

But what about the new Frankenstein’s monsters taking shape? Will history repeat itself with e-SIMs and will all be fine? Or will the loss of coverage with decommissioning of legacy networks force customers towards alternatives? Will the complexity of 5G complemented with the use of private networks on unlicensed frequencies reveal that it’s not just a scary mask but the real face?

In the history of Roaming, never ever have we had to deal with so many new challenges that we are so ill prepared for simultaneously. Are we facing a perfect storm? … and I’m not even talking about Covid-19 (or in the spirit of Halloween should I say Covid-21? … nah I’m told we are “rounding a corner” and as soon as certain elections are over and 5G is finally switched off, all will be well and dandy.)

Perhaps it’s time to think about these a bit more seriously, perhaps it’s time for an industry, who always made friends with foes to wake up to the challenges and opportunities that the 2020’s bring in a more united manner rather than in piecemeal by individual stakeholders.

For united we stand ...

Oh dear!!… was that my door creaking or yours?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!