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Steering of Roaming (IPN)

Intelligent Preferred Network (IPN) is TOMIA’s Steering of Roaming service that helps operators to optimize roaming costs with automation and ensures the best user experience.

Market Challenges

Steering of roaming cannot be standalone but has to be integrated with commercial systems to intelligently recommend and execute network actions that will bring savings and high-quality services.

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2G/3G Decommissioning

As operators navigate the shutdown of 2G/3G networks, they must address contingencies related to multiple network technologies and ensure uninterrupted voice service in roaming. In this perspective, the device capabilities must be considered during the steering process. Devices which do not support VoLTE or subscribers who have forgotten to activate it before traveling can get stuck in networks where voice service is unavailable. Operators need to manage these cases or notify the subscriber with instructions on how to activate VoLTE when roaming.

Steering and discount agreements have traditionally been handled by separate teams and independent services with different configuration sets and levels of granularity. While one service calculates traffic distribution based on unique roamers, the other measures additional metrics such as financial performance. This approach can potentially lead to misalignment between business strategy and technical execution, such as delayed steering actions when a commitment is met. In addition to the risk of commitment penalties, the cost for prolonged steering updates is estimated at $380K annually.

Even though the industry has made some progress in measuring Quality of Service (QoS) for roaming services, steering is still fundamentally accomplished based on whether coverage is available. If a high-usage subscriber raises a complaint, the Home operator often prefers to stop enforcing steering policies and allow it to connect to any network available, even if this results in additional wholesale costs. Operators are seeking solutions that go beyond non-coverage issues to improve the user roaming experience.

Operators are moving from one-size-fits-all to individual agreements that address specific IoT (Internet of Things) vertical needs. In addition, with multiple offerings targeting multiple consumer segments, it is imperative to move from a partner-level to subscriber-level control. By zooming into the subscriber-level, roaming managers can define network steering policies for specific segments without affecting others. This allows more flexibility and cost savings for the operator and a better roaming experience for the end user.
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Automating Your Wholesale Roaming Business

TOMIA’s IPN service simplifies day-to-day activities, enhancing efficiency, and provides automated insights to facilitate faster and more accurate steering decisions.

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TOMIA is the leading vendor of Steering of Roaming services

Covering all wireless core generations, from 2G through VoLTE to 5G, and LPWAN (low-power wide-area networks) such as NB-IoT with automatic detection of devices’ capabilities.

  • Fully compliant with GSMA and ETSI standards.
  • Combines signaling and OTA (Over-the-Air) steering for improved accuracy and enhanced user experience.
  • Steering policies based on multiple business criteria, such as wholesale targets, usage, quality of service, coverage, and network technology.
  • Flexible community mechanism based on network technology, device capabilities, segment or IoT vertical, service, and more.
  • Adaptive Steering provides real-time data session analysis to improve quality and usage.
  • Multitenant and multiservice capabilities support operator groups with simplified service activation, onboarding, and automated service scalability.
  • Deployed on Cloud or on NFV architecture.
Relevant Assets

Adaptive Steering: Prioritizing Quality Assurance in the 5G Era

As data-centric solutions become the norm, ensuring high-quality data experiences is more crucial than ever. Discover how Steering of Roaming services can enhance user experience, seize new business opportunities, and optimize wholesale costs.

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Our customers

Case Studies

VoLTE Is Vital to Ensure Continuity of Voice Services

Be ready for the 2G/3G networks shutdown with no interruption to service.

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Preparation is not Just Sensible, but Essential

Bringing three products together to enable VoLTE roaming.

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Pain-Free Home Calling Process

Using VoLTE VHE to help roaming subscribers dial home as if they’d never left.

Read the Success Story

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Campaign Management (Sparx)

Delivering personalized messaging for targeted roamers at the right time.

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VoLTE Roaming

Flexible solutions to efficiently operate and optimize VoLTE Roaming.

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5G Roaming

Automating, monetizing, and enabling new use cases for consumers and enterprises on the journey to 5G roll out.

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