BICS awarded EU patent for GTP filter solution to enable instant data roaming around the world for service providers

BICS, a global provider of wholesale carrier services, announced today it has been awarded EU patent EP2658333 from the European Patent Office for its innovative GPRS tunnelling protocol (GTP) filter solution. The patented technology is an industry-first solution which allows mobile service providers to immediately enable seamless global 3G and LTE data roaming using BICS’ Instant Roaming platform.

BICS’ Instant Roaming platform enables MNOs, MVNOs, OTT providers and M2M service providers to gain instant access to hundreds of international roaming agreements from mobile operator sponsors to offer a transparent and seamless data roaming experience to their customers.

The GTP filter solution combined with multi-IMSI technology allows mobile service providers to take full advantage of the roaming coverage established over decades by sponsor mobile operators. Using the GTP solution, mobile service providers can extend their international reach and provide customers with worldwide high-quality mobile connectivity for voice and data services.

The emergence of multi-IMSI solutions requires sponsor mobile operators to successfully segregate single and multi-IMSI traffic. By default, when a sponsored IMSI roams onto a visited network, the smartphone will automatically select the APN (Access Point Name) of the sponsor network instead of the customer home network APN. Consequently data roaming traffic cannot reach the home network (GGSN and PDN Gateway), meaning the data roaming session fails and the subscriber is prevented from accessing internet services.

The GTP filter solution is able to detect the data session that has been generated by the smartphone using the sponsor’s default APN and then dynamically change it with the correct customer APN, ensuring seamless 3G/4G data roaming for the subscriber.

BICS’ Instant Roaming platform, enhanced by GTP filtering ensures full transparency for both customer networks and sponsor networks with no complex or costly integration. Furthermore, this fully automated process removes the need for subscribers to make manual APN configuration changes to their smartphone.

The interoperable GTP filter has been developed over the last five years to cover all mobile standards, from legacy GSM services to next generation LTE. Currently more than 30 BICS customers are using the patented GTP filter solution.

“This patent marks an important development for BICS and its customers,” said Mikaël Schachne, VP Mobile Data Business, BICS. “The growth in the data roaming market last year was astounding. In response to this BICS has developed a unique technology that enables every mobile service provider, from MNOs and MVNOs to IoT enablers and OTT providers, to provide complete worldwide roaming coverage with the highest quality level that users expect for all their mobile devices.”

He added: “BICS is dedicated to offering its customers innovative solutions that will help to monetise data roaming and all other forms of network traffic. This patent acknowledges BICS as a pioneer in the industry and the leading provider of multi-IMSI solutions for 3G and LTE networks.”