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WiMAX Forum has launched its Global Roaming Program, which plans on providing operators and vendors easy access to the necessary information required to establish WiMAX roaming services. The program is live and can be viewed on the WiMAX Forum public web site at www.wimaxforum.org or directly at www.wimaxroaming.org.

The WiMAX Forum is an industry-led, not-for-profit organization established to corroborate and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the harmonized IEEE 802.16e/ETSI HiperMAN standard. The Roaming Program documents were developed by WiMAX Forum members with inputs from over twenty WiMAX operators and the support of several roaming exchange, clearing and settlement providers including Accuris Networks, Aicent, Comfone, I-Pass, MACH-Cibernet, QuiConnect, Syniverse and Verisign.

The sole aim behind the launch of its Global Roaming Program is to help mobile WiMax operators set up roaming so subscribers can go online as and when they travel to areas served by other carriers. The program offers provisions for service providers, including technical specifications, a manual, a contract template and a test plan, on the organization's Web site.

Roaming faciilities are essental for mobility as roaming allows subscribers to access WiMAX and other services while traveling outside their home network geographical coverage area. This includes internet, e-mail, voice, video and other services available on the home network. Roaming provides significant advantages to customers and network operators. Roaming can dramatically expand the coverage area available to customers and can enable an operator to expand its reach.

The WIMAX Forum Global Roaming Program includes:

• A “how-to” manual to understand and launch WiMAX roaming services.
• Roaming specifications that include a breakdown of the technical specifications for operators and help to define how operators exchange information to track usage, create invoices, and perform financial settlements.�
• A contract template that operators may use when entering into roaming agreements.�
• A pre-launch roaming test plan that operators can follow in testing roaming services with other operators when establishing roaming services.

With more than 407 WiMAX deployments in 133 countries, the availability of these critical roaming tools at such an early stage provides extra value to service providers. The roaming program is especially important given the WiMAX Forum’s mission, which is to expedite the adoption of mobile WiMAX by operators across the world and make sure products are interoperable through its certification programs.

Domestic and international roaming is widely available among cellular operators, especially those using the most widely adopted mobile standard, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). WiMax is just beginning to be rolled out in many parts of the world and has a long way to go before it's as widespread as 2G (second-generation) and 3G (third-generation) mobile networks. But the WiMax Forum is smart to get the ball rolling on roaming agreements now, as per Robert Syputa, an analyst at Maravedis.

The WiMAX Forum is also working with the CDMA Development Group to enable roaming between WiMAX and CDMA as Sprint and Clearwire�desire to unite�Sprint's 3G CDMA network with Clearwire's WiMAX systems.

In November 2008, Airspan and U.K. operator Freedom4 demonstrated a seamless handoff between WiMAX networks�that operate on�different spectrum bands. The companies say the accomplishment is significant as users will be able to roam from one operating network to another, such as between a licensed Clearwire 2.5 GHz network and a license-free 3.65 GHz network. Operators will have the option to deploy a mobile WiMAX network using more than one frequency band.