The wide ranging world of wireless roaming has fallen on deaf ears when it comes to CDMA2000 1x data services. Most U.S. operators have yet to sign agreements that would allow customers to continue to access their data services when using a competitor’s network.
Sprint PCS said that data roaming agreements are not as simple to implement as voice roaming deals, noting additional challenges in controlling network quality and access to content. Together Sprint and Verizon Wireless represent the nation’s largest CDMA networks, serving more than 60 million subscribers,
“Wireless data roaming is very different than voice roaming,” said Sprint PCS spokeswoman Mary Nell Westbrook. “Most of our data services use proprietary content that is specifically branded for the Vision service. When people sign up for Sprint, they expect a Sprint experience.”
Verizon Wireless did not return calls before RCR Wireless News press time.
Analysts note that the lack of such agreements among large CDMA carriers is not surprising due to the competitive nature of the wireless industry and that the use of roaming agreements could be a sign to customers that one carrier’s network is not as complete as its competitor’s.
“You have two giant carriers in Verizon and Sprint that are at each other’s throats,” said Larry Swasey, wireless industry analyst at Visant Technologies. “If they allowed roaming across their networks, it’s almost an admission that their network is not extensive enough and that their competitor has coverage where they don’t.”
Swasey added that such animosity between Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS is also impacting roaming agreements with regional operators.
Alltel Corp., which has a broad voice roaming agreement with Verizon Wireless that allows the regional carrier to offer nationwide voice services, said it has data roaming agreements in a small number of markets, but nothing “significant.” U.S. Cellular Corp. also said it does not allow CDMA data roaming.
Midwest Wireless said that it was working to allow CDMA data roaming services, but there has not been a lot of interest from its roaming partners. Midwest has a deal with Rural Cellular Corp. that allows Rural Cellular customers to access BREW-based services while roaming on Midwest’s network.
Western Wireless Corp., which has launched both 1x and GPRS technology on its network, noted that it provides data roaming to its GSM/GPRS partners, but not its CDMA partners. The carrier said it was working on adding CDMA wireless data roaming to its voice roaming services, but claimed that the current lack of standards over technical issues as well as financial compensation has held up the process.
Mark Denton, wireless product manager for dynamic IP and data service fulfillment provider BridgeWater Systems Corp., explained that while a number of the issues are complex network problems, many are as simple as carriers debating whether to use a single clearinghouse to settle data roaming or to use individual deals with each roaming partner.
Denton noted that such issues have failed to plague GSM/GPRS carriers, which have had a head start in data roaming as the technology was designed to allow seamless roaming across networks in Europe. Cingular Wireless L.L.C., AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and T-Mobile USA Inc. all allow customers to access GPRS service while roaming onto each others’ networks, and in most cases do not charge additional roaming fees.
“There are definitely less issues with GSM,” Denton said.
While the domestic CDMA data-roaming scene has yet to find its legs, many carriers allow their customers to use data services when roaming with their friends to the north. Verizon Wireless has a cross-boarder agreement with Canadian CDMA operator Telus Mobility, while Sprint PCS has a similar deal with Bell Mobility. Sprint PCS expanded its partnership with Bell Mobility earlier this year with a technical agreement that allows customers to exchange pictures across their networks.
Analysts note that while a lack of CDMA data roaming agreements among domestic carriers are not a necessity as the wireless data market is still in its infancy, carriers will have to add data roaming capabilities if they want to continue to grow the market.
“It’s definitely something that they need to work on,” said independent telecommunications industry analyst Jeff Kagan. “If these carriers want customers to continue to adopt data services they are going to need to make it as easy as possible to use.”