During the course of the 2010s many countries around the world became much more active in enforcing rules and regulations that prevent cellular connections from an overseas operator existing in a state of ‘permanent roaming’ in their country. Historically this was a relatively large proportion of cellular IoT connections as enterprises contracted with a single connectivity provider to support a global estate of devices using well-established worldwide inter-carrier roaming agreements. Typically, relying of roaming data isn’t cheap, but for devices generating only a few megabytes of data it was often viable. In the last decade the rules have become much stricter, with regulators (and operators) enforcing rules. This report reviews the current situation with regard to permanent roaming and offers suggestions for enterprises and operators about how to mitigate the issue.
During the course of the 2010s many countries around the world became much more active in enforcing rules and regulations that prevent cellular connections from an overseas operator existing in a state of ‘permanent roaming’ in their country. Historically this was a relatively large proportion of cellular IoT connections as enterprises contracted with a single connectivity provider to support a global estate of devices using well-established worldwide inter-carrier roaming agreements. Typically, relying of roaming data isn’t cheap, but for devices generating only a few megabytes of data it was often viable. In the last decade the rules have become much stricter, with regulators (and operators) enforcing rules. This report reviews the current situation with regard to permanent roaming and offers suggestions for enterprises and operators about how to mitigate the issue.
