StreamWIDE Solution Will Allow Mobile Providers to Comply with Upcoming EU Roaming Regulations

For many mobile phone users in the U.S., their relationship with their provider is usually not full of cheers and raves about great service; at best, it’s usually one of silence. Content users go on about their day and say little when things are going well. It’s usually not until things are going badly that service providers hear from their users.

Compared to the European market, most U.S. mobile users do not know how good they have it. For a long time, European users have had to contend with roaming charges. While Americans can usually move between states without fear of incurring such fees, European users covering the same distance from their homes can pass through multiple countries, each with its own roaming charges.

In response to this problem, the European Union (EU), through its Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC) sought to limit roaming fees. One regulation with that objective in mind goes into effect in July 2014. It is known as the Local Breakout (LBO).

While mobile customers will likely appreciate LBO, it has providers scrambling to become compliant. A turnkey solution developed by StreamWIDE will help providers, at least as it relates to travelers using their network.

The solution allows providers to sell data packages to visitors. These packages can be priced by volume or fixed and are LBO-compliant. The solution also provides a revenue stream for the service providers, while users can be confident that they can use data in another network without any surprises once the bill comes.

It’s hard to predict how well StreamWIDE’s solution will be received by European service providers until after LBO has been in effect long enough to obtain meaningful results, but in theory it should work well. The Paris-based company has been providing solutions to value-added service providers since 2001, an eternity in the telecom industry, so the company does have past success in this area.

The solution should also be a huge win for European mobile customers. While they won’t be able to take roaming mostly for granted as U.S. customers do, most of the sticker shock should disappear.