The move will see Etisalat’s SmartHub IPX peer with the iBasis LTE Signaling eXchange (LSX) for LTE roaming and signalling.
The agreement builds on the companies’ pre-existing IPX connections for GRPS Roaming eXchange (GRX) and data services, and is aimed at ensuring Etisalat’s roaming customers receive a high quality LTE experience.
“With the growing importance and adoption of LTE, we want to ensure that our roaming customers enjoy the consistent, high quality LTE experience they expect from Etisalat. The peering agreement with iBasis LSX will set high benchmarks in providing our LTE end user’s best-in-class roaming connectivity worldwide and access to a global footprint of LTE operator networks,” said Amiri, EVP of carrier & wholesale services at Etisalat.
The iBasis LSX and multi-service IPX is said to help resolve the complexities of international roaming across 3G and 4G networks through a single interconnect and ensure interworking between existing Signaling System 7 (SS7) networks and Diameter-based LTE networks. The telecoms protocol SS7 is used in an advanced intelligent network for various telephony services and helps offload data traffic congestion onto a mobile or fixed-line digital broadband network.
“As LTE adoption spreads rapidly around the world, the challenges of international LTE roaming are becoming increasingly important. We are very pleased to peer with an innovative operator like Etisalat UAE to ensure a consistent high-quality experience for LTE subscribers,” said Willem Offerhaus, CEO of iBasis.
iBasis becomes the sixth company to announce a partnership into Etisalat’s SmartHub facility this week, following partnerships with Bharti Airtel, Safaricom, Telekom Malaysia, Aicent and Mobily.
The big interview in Capacity Daily for day 3 of Capacity Middle East 2014 is with Etisalat’s Ali Amiri, where he discusses growth in the Middle East. Capacity Media Daily can now be downloaded for free from Google Play and the Apple App Store.
Capacity will be holding a Smart Media event as part of Capacity Middle East 2014 tomorrow (March 6), focussing on content delivery and monetisation across the entire ecosystem.
