If you were at the recent WAS#19 in Turkey, you have probably stumbled into a meeting where travel eSIM, IoT roaming, or 5G Standalone (SA) was the central topic. And, if you are interested in the details, you may have discussed possible alternatives to automate partner relationships, how the Billing and Charging Evolution (BCE) is poised to improve 5G data handling, and the increased focus on Quality of Service (QoS). With rapid advancements in VoLTE roaming, LPWAN (low-power wide area network), and 5G SA coming to fruition, operators are keen to offer a home-like experience in roaming. This blog is focused on discussing how the performance of your own network can be matched internationally for every subscriber, enterprise, and IoT device.

QoS Depends On How You See It

In 2023, TOMIA released a QoS-based steering service to the market. This is an embedded logic of its award-winning Intelligent Preferred Network (IPN) that calculates a QoS score of partners’ networks based on historical roaming registration events, without needing external input such as roaming testing services. The most common use cases are to avoid steering to non-coverage areas or to networks that reported long registration times, and allow registration on networks when no other network was available.

With data-centric services going mainstream, there’s a growing need to monitor the quality of data sessions. This includes everything between connecting and accessing data services, and connection retainability, i.e., from a successful service establishment until its termination. In the next blog, we’ll drill down into how the data is collected, the available measurements, and analysis.

Operators are looking to maximize revenues and, therefore, they treat customer segments differently. The definition of QoS is subjective. Consumers, enterprises, and IoT providers have individual needs and require specific QoS service levels, nationally and internationally, in a roaming scenario. Achieving this involves managing a global network of roaming partners across various technologies and offering personalized services while reducing costs and maintaining quality. For example, consumers may enjoy HD video streaming while traveling, while industry sensors that monitor machine temperatures may require low bandwidth. Not only do operators have different commercial strategies per segment, but QoS needs to be contextualized. This is where TOMIA IPN Adaptive Steering comes into play.

QoS Awareness and Control

TOMIA IPN Adaptive Steering principle is based on scoring partners’ networks according to QoS signaling and data-related targets defined by the operator, enhancing the steering efficiency of the various customer segments independently. The method increases the roaming experience without negatively impacting costs, combining commercial targets and QoS parameters with the highest level of accuracy. This approach is increasingly relevant as we move forward, with 5G network slices ensuring QoS and potentially evolving into an independent business model.

We’ll dive into the technical details of how information is collected and used for monitoring the QoS of data sessions and the relevant metrics for defining the network scoring. Get in touch if you want to know more about IPN Adaptive Steering.