Tuesday, November 9, 2004

International Carriers Reach Wi-Fi Roaming Agreement

T-Mobile, which operates the largest carrier-owned Wi-Fi network in the U.S., announced a series of roaming agreements with six other major international wireless operators in the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA). Participating WBA members include: BT Group (UK), Telecom Italia (Italy), Maxis (Malaysia), NTT Com (Japan), StarHub (Singapore), Telstra (Australia), T-Mobile USA (USA) and, through existing arrangements, the European operating companies of T-Mobile in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It is expected that additional international carriers in Europe and Asia will join in the roaming arrangements in the near future, further broadening the WBA footprint into which T-Mobile HotSpot subscribers can roam with a single Wi-Fi account.



T-Mobile HotSpot US subscribers will be able to benefit from these international roaming arrangements at no additional charge through the remainder of 2004. Prices for international roaming in 2005 and beyond will be determined at a later time.



T-Mobile USA subscribers will now be able to use their Wi-Fi subscription at more than 11,500 Wi-Fi locations within the following countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Czech Republic, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and the United States.



Wi-Fi users from participating WBA carriers can now roam into more than 5,000 T-Mobile HotSpot locations in the U.S. http://www.wirelessbroadbandalliance.com