Roaming Clearing Market to Grow by Over $600 Million in One Year
The total number of roaming connections is anticipated by Juniper Research to grow 350% over the next five years, with the growing presence of 5G and IoT roaming devices increasingly being major driving factors of this growth. In order to capitalise on this demand, data and financial clearing houses must first understand and identify the key drivers behind this, as this will allow them to produce targeted services, optimised for assisting operators in monetising these trends.
Juniper Research has identified three key drivers to the growth in roaming devices as. These are:
IoT Roaming
IoT devices are becoming increasingly important, with their wide array of applications allowing operators, enterprises, consumers, and governments to integrate them into everyday life. Common use cases of IoT include, connected cars,
fleet management, logistics, and smart cities.
As a result of these growing use cases, the number of IoT devices is anticipated to grow from 2.9 billion in 2023 to 6.4 billion in 2028. Similarly, the number of roaming
IoT devices is also expected by Juniper Research to grow over the next five years, from 146 million in 2023, to 595 million in 2028.
This growth will be heavily driven by enterprises looking to reduce their operating costs and increase revenue. In particular enterprises with multinational operations will be key contributors, with their supply chains spanning the globe. The international nature of their operations, meaning IoT roaming use cases such as
international logistics will become crucial to providing clients with updated information and improving the efficiency of international transport.
Multinational enterprises are also expected by Juniper Research to continue to lead the adoption of IoT and innovating new use cases.
5G Networks
5G is quickly becoming the predominant network for mobile users. In 2023, there will be 1.6 billion 5G connections, with Juniper Research projecting this to reach 6 billion in HOW DATA AND FINANCIAL CLEARING WILL EVOLVE IN 2024 OPERATORS & PROVIDERS 2028. Similar trends are anticipated in the roaming market, with the number of
roaming devices on 5G networks expected to grow 1,683%, from 35 million in 2023 to 589 million in 2028.
Whilst a proportion of this growth can be accounted for by the sunsetting of 2G and 3G networks, as well as operators shifting their customers from 4G to 5G, 5G is also
driving the growth in total roaming devices.
5G networks provide consumers with higher-quality roaming service than previous generations of networks, allowing for an improved roaming experience. These improvements include lower latency and improved upload and download speeds,
Moreover, operators can further build on these improvements by implementing solutions such as edge computing. This further improves users’ experiences, increasing the value of roaming services, and therefore the number of roaming
devices.
No to Roaming Barriers
Over the last decade, operators, national governments, and supranational organisations, have made reducing the additional costs incurred by users when roaming, a focus on roaming agreements, legislation, and regulation. The most
notable of these initiatives has been the EU’s Roam Like at Home.
Introduced in June 2017, Roam Like at Home has since been extended to 2032. The scheme allows users to call, text, and use mobile data across all 27 EU countries with no additional charges. Moreover, consumers are entitled to the same mobile network quality and speed abroad as at home, where equivalent networks are available. The scheme has been extremely successful at improving users roaming
experience, with the number of roaming connections within the EU; growing significantly since its introduction. Juniper Research anticipates that this growth will
continue in the future, with the total number of roaming connections in the EU expected to exceed 300 million in 2028.
The success of Roam Like at Home has spurred a number of similar schemes between governments around the world. A key example of this is the Regional Roaming Agreement between Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North
Macedonia, and Serbia.
Roaming clearing is a process in the telecommunications industry that facilitates the exchange of roaming data between different mobile network operators (MNOs). This process allows customers of one network to use their mobile devices on another network when they are traveling outside of their home network’s geographical coverage area.
In response, the report urges roaming clearing vendors and operators to implement BCE (Billing and Charging Evolution). BCE is a protocol that gives operators a more granular view of roaming activities; most notably greater visibility of the amount of roaming data generated by each roaming connection.
Why BCE Is Crucial for 5G Roaming Revenue
The report urges roaming clearing vendors to promote the significant benefits of the protocol to operators. It identified BCE’s ability to set roaming prices based on roaming network quality as a key advantage over incumbent roaming clearing protocols. As 5G roaming grows, BCE’s ability to charge higher prices for roaming connections on 5G networks will allow vendors to grow revenue. The report predicts this will position operators to capitalise on 5G roamers, who are anticipated to comprise 27% of global roamers by 2028.
National Roaming Regulations Complicating Market
However, the report also highlights the increasingly restrictive regulations on roaming prices that are diminishing operators’ ability to grow roaming revenue. Roaming clearing houses must further develop regulatory management solutions that centralise roaming compliance. The report predicts an increased insight into roaming activities, enabled by BCE, will allow operators to charge a premium for roaming connections that utilize the most resources when roaming on visited networks.
Here are some of the most known roaming clearing houses:
- Syniverse: Syniverse is one of the world’s leading providers of roaming services, including data and financial clearing, to mobile network operators.
- BICS (Belgacom International Carrier Services): BICS is a leading global provider of international connectivity and interoperability services, including roaming data and financial clearing.
- iBasis: iBasis, a KPN company, is a global provider of communications solutions that offers a comprehensive portfolio of voice services and mobile solutions, including roaming services.
- Comfone: Comfone provides a variety of services for roaming, including data and financial clearing, to mobile network operators around the world.
- Starhome Mach: Starhome Mach is a leading provider of value-added global roaming services and solutions, including data clearing and financial settlement.
- TNS (Transaction Network Services): TNS offers a range of connectivity, roaming, and clearing solutions for the telecom industry.
These companies play a crucial role in enabling mobile users to use their devices when they travel abroad, by facilitating the exchange of user data and the settlement of charges between their home network and the network they are using while they are away.
