T-Mobile US and Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier Complete Testing of World’s First 5G Standalone Roaming Program with AIS and Sunrise

T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS):

What’s the news: T-Mobile US and Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier have completed successful testing of 5G Standalone (5G SA) roaming, leveraging Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier’s Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP) to complete the world’s first hosted SEPP 5G SA roaming T-Mobile US and Sunrise and a direct SEPP to SEPP interconnect with AIS Thailand.

Why it matters: 5G SA roaming grants customers on participating networks the ability to travel internationally and continue accessing the best 5G experience available with 5G SA.

Who it’s for: Domestic & International network providers who want to offer their customers enhanced roaming capabilities with 5G SA while traveling.

It’s a small world after all! T-Mobile US (NASDAQ: TMUS) and Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier announced today the two companies are working to make it possible to access 5G Standalone (5G SA) networks worldwide with 5G SA roaming. After months of collaboration, T-Mobile US and Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier are the first in the world to successfully test roaming on a 5G SA network. The program used Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier’s Internet Protocol Exchange (IPX) and Hosted Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP) solutions with participating carriers Sunrise and AIS Thailand, successfully completing 5G SA roaming between the U.S. and Switzerland and the U.S. and Thailand.

“5G SA roaming changes the very meaning of staying connected while abroad,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, President of Technology at T-Mobile US. “Our customers already enjoy incredible roaming benefits in more than 215 countries and destinations, and 5G SA roaming opens the door for even faster speeds and increased reliability, enables emerging technologies like network slicing and will ensure the experience our customers have at home on our network travels with them practically anywhere.”

5G SA roaming and the testing accomplished by T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier, Sunrise and AIS Thailand are leading the industry in terms of roaming capabilities and, while not commercially available yet, are the natural next steps in improving the mobile experience while traveling and conducting business operations abroad.

Here are just a few of the benefits 5G SA roaming will provide as the technology is adopted:

• Enhanced Customer Experience: 5G SA roaming networks will offer faster speeds, lower latency, and higher capacity compared to Non-Standalone (NSA) networks. SA roaming translates to a superior customer experience for subscribers, no matter the application, while roaming.
• Global Reach and Connectivity: With 5G SA roaming, operators can expand their reach and offer seamless high-speed connectivity to their subscribers in foreign countries. This is particularly important for travelers and businesses with international operations.
• Enhanced Support for Emerging Technologies: 5G SA networks can enable new and emerging technologies to perform at their best, such as augmented reality, virtual reality, IoT applications, network slicing, private networks and more.
• IoT and Enterprise Services: SA roaming is crucial for supporting massive IoT deployments and critical IoT applications. Enterprises that rely on real-time data for their operations can benefit significantly from SA roaming capabilities.

“Our Hosted SEPP capability has proven very successful during our PoC phase last year and we are thrilled to now enter the technical readiness phase together with T-Mobile US, Sunrise, and AIS,” said Nicholas Nikrouyan, Vice President, Voice & Mobile Solutions at Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier. “Transparency was our main guiding principle for 5G SA roaming to ensure that all operators are open and fully aligned with the necessary 5G security requirements. We look forward to continuing support of T-Mobile US as it develops its 5G SA roaming interconnections, as well as welcoming additional operator partners abroad who prefer the convenience of setting up and maintaining their 5G SA roaming services.”