Clearwire Announces Global Roaming Deals with WiMAX Operators

Clearwire Communications, the subsidiary of Clearwire Corporation, announced today that it has inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with two WiMAX carriers in the world, namely UQ Communications of Japan (UQ) and Yota of Russia. According to Clearwire, the memorandum “identifies the objectives and activities each operator will perform towards the realization of establishing WiMAX roaming between the operators.”

As the MOU indicates, the trio will collaborate to define the process of international roaming and to ensure that both the systems and the device the carriers offer can support roaming. At the same time, they will work with Clearwire’s Global Alliance Partner Program members, as well as with other WiMAX carriers around the world so that the roaming will be available in a large number of countries. The WiMAX Forum roaming guidelines, specifications and templates are to be enhanced if necessary, the company also announced.

“Today’s announcement confirms mobile WiMAX technology’s maturity and robustness and reaffirms that it is the only commercially available 4G standard worldwide with an available ecosystem of infrastructure and devices,” said Barry West, president of Clearwire International. “With over 500 WiMAX deployments underway in about 145 countries, the existence of a roaming framework – helping to connect operators as well as WiMAX customers – is vital to advanced cross-market cooperation.”

Clearwire, UQ, and Yota offer WiMAX services in their countries, and the new collaboration between them is meant to provide their users with access to the service even when abroad. In addition, they also stated that the collaboration is aimed at offering international accessibility to 4G services the same way as other wireless technology available today enjoys.

“The mobile WiMAX position in the telecom market is currently so strong, that operators are taking action to organize a civilized roaming environment,” says Dennis Sverdlov, CEO of Yota. “The trilateral MOU, signed by the leading global WiMAX operators, is evidence of that. We are committed to making telecom services easy to use for our clients, and this MOU was signed with their interests in mind.”