Wireless Broadband Alliance Completes OpenRoaming Trial in London

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the industry body for Wi-Fi standards and services, announced the successful completion of an advanced public Wi-Fi OpenRoaming proof-of-concept (PoC) in Shoreditch, London. This achievement comes through collaboration with CIN, a provider of streetside telecoms infrastructure assets, Colt Technology Services, and GlobalReach Technology. The PoC facilitated seamless Wi-Fi connectivity for phone users, allowing them to transition between cellular and Wi-Fi networks via an existing OpenRoaming profile or app, WBA said on Tuesday.

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Seamless Wi-Fi Connectivity

WBA OpenRoaming is an open connectivity framework designed to automatically and securely connect billions of users and things to millions of Wi-Fi networks globally through its roaming federation service. It enables users to connect automatically to Wi-Fi securely using a profile of their choice on their device. Additionally, mobile carriers can opt to offload their cellular traffic selectively to Wi-Fi, ensuring users are consistently connected to the best available network, according to the official release.

Integration of OpenRoaming Capabilities

The PoC was based on the CIN ‘Street Arc’ concept, a streetside infrastructure solution supporting mobile networks, Wi-Fi networks, Edge, and IoT Networks. Street Arc has been enhanced to integrate OpenRoaming capabilities, facilitating seamless offloading of cellular traffic to Wi-Fi in high-traffic areas.

Reportedly, Street Arc installations utilise the Cisco Meraki MR36 access point and GlobalReach’s GlobalRo.am app to enable users to connect to the Wi-Fi network automatically, supported by the OpenRoaming standard. Meanwhile, Colt provides fiber and network connectivity.