It's the first time a major operator has trialled the technology in a high-density city network and the news broke a week after WBA OpenRoaming was rolled out at Guarulhos International Airport, in São Paulo.
JR Wilson, VP of tower strategy and roaming at AT&T, said: “A cultural hotspot like downtown Austin, deserves the ultimate Wifi hotspot: one that requires zero effort to access public Wifi automatically, securely and reliably. That’s exactly the kind of user experience AT&T is providing with Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint® and WBA OpenRoaming. Once again, we’ve raised the bar for speed, security and convenience.”
The PoC is initially a trial, however, the future plan for WBA OpenRoaming is that citizens in a location – or travellers in an airport – can seamlessly switch between Wifi networks without repeat log ins because the technology doesn’t rely on MAC addressing. In addition to the connectivity and productivity benefits, it is also a more secure way to connect.
In the context of city deployments of WBA OpenRoaming, future deployments can see public Wi-Fi access in schools and libraries and other public domains, as demonstrated in Europe with the WiFi4EU initiatives, enabling secure access to the internet for research, schooling and business activities. The Canary Wharf deployment in the UK has already transformed the business district into a connected hub, allowing citizens to from street level to high rise offices while staying seamlessly connected with OpenRoaming enabled Wifi.
Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of WBA said: “This trial is the first step to proving WBA OpenRoaming technology in a dense, urban location. This will be further developed during the summer of 2021 and commercial developments will come onboard.”
