Inline Telecom Solutions has implemented WLAN roaming project for MTT

23.01.2008

Software Solutions Division has developed and deployed their unique solution for Multiregional TransitTelecom (MTT) to render national and international WLAN roaming services. The solution is aimed to provide interaction and mutual payments between Wi-Fi operators when rendering roaming services.
The project allows MTT to implement internetwork communications of signal traffic, collect charging data for payments between operators and coordinate interaction of operators when rendering the services.

WLAN Roaming Gateway performs the following functionalities:
• to proxy authentication and accounting information,
• to transform features of signal protocol (Radius) between operators exploring different technologies and types of equipment,
• to calculate permitted value of access time/volume for pre-paid subscribers in compliance with the roaming rates,
• to provide inter-carrier settlement.

Thereby, Roaming Gateway possesses a perfect flexibility to be tailored to any technological requirements of the operators - participants of roaming agreement and allows controlling of expenses in real time.

Building of the basis and designing of the environment to launch roaming service in commercial operating were started in 2003-2004. Within the project of test-platform foundation to provide WLAN roaming services, the hardware-software complex was tested. This solution enabled providing multi-directional roaming between commercial WLAN networks of mobile operators and HotSpot (Wi-Fi) operators within the network and to rate infrastructure of MTT.

The purpose of the mentioned above project was building of the system, which allows exploring/testing technical issues of mobile and Wi-Fi operators connection under WLAN roaming.
There are two vital requirements to provide WLAN roaming services. The first is the legal background of roaming. It's a multilateral agreement between operators and MTT. The second is technical. This is hardware and software complex which is to provide authentication and accounting (AAA) of subscribers, RADIUS-package routing, attributes matching and recalculation of quotas issued by operator to a subscriber.

The Platform of service provisioning consists of:
• RADIUS-server - roaming gateway,
• Oracle Database, which is meant for storing of the configuration features and data which are generated during the period of time when platform in working,
• Application server - web interface of roaming gateway,
• Gate of the AAA-traffic aggregation - Cisco Access Registrator,
• Test Wi-Fi area, which is aimed to perform control testing with attached operator (participant of the roaming agreement).

At present, the companies, which participate in rendering WLAN-roaming services within Russia, are COMSTAR - United TeleSystems, MTT, PeterStar, PROSTOR Telecom, and Tango Telecom.
The project is developing actively, and the number of Wi-Fi operators participated in this project is expected to increase in several times in Russia and CIS region this year. Specialists of the Software solutions division have been working hard within the project and considerably contributed to the project spreading out. The result of their work enables MTT to render WLAN roaming services worldwide.

For example, within new project of MTT to realize international WLAN roaming in Russia, the Platform of service provisioning designed by Software solutions division assigned to provide opportunities to connect to Swiss operator WeRoam http://www.mtt.ru/eng/news/article.wbp?article_id=8d3de587-5060-456c-8c14-935349db46ce. Due to this project Russian subscribers are capable to connect to WeRoam networks, as well as subscribers of foreign operators have got access to Wi-Fi services in Russia now.