Basics of Steering of Roaming

AN OVERVIEW

PreparedbyLearntelecom.com

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Contents
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Roaming Market
2. NETWORK SELECTION PRINCIPLE
2.1. What is Roaming?
2.2. What is PLMN?
2.3. How Mobile attaching to Networks
Normal location updating
Periodic updating
3. STEERING OF ROAMING
3.1. Why SoR Required?
3.2. Is Steering of Roaming is Legal?
3.3. How SoR works?
4. ANTI STEERING OF ROAMING
5. REFERENCE

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DocumentPreparedbyLT
1. INTRODUCTION
Steering of Roaming (SoR) has been rolled out by
Operatorsinordertodirecttheiroutboundroamers
to preferred VPMNs in the roaming destinations. In
some cases just one preferred VPMN in a country
is chosen, in other cases SoR is about managing
the proportion of revenue and traffic shares
betweentwoormoreVPMNs..
1.1. ROAMING MARKET
Global mobile connections are forecast to hit 7.49
billion in 2015 and revenues are expected to reach
$1,000 billion. The effects of emerging market
growth and intense competition worldwide are
behind this change. These trends will also require a
marked change in the behavior of mobile operators
looking to thrive in 2015, as per the Report by
Market Publishers. Steady growth of roaming users
is a common phenomenon globally as well as in
India. While the roaming market is registering a
steadygrowth,thechallengefortheserviceprovider
isgettinghighrevenuewithlowtariffplans.
2. NETWORK SELECTION
PRINCIPLE
2.1. WHAT IS ROAMING?
Inwirelesstelecommunications,roamingisageneral
termreferringtotheextensionofconnectivityservice
in a location that is different from the home location
where the service was registered. Roaming ensures
that the wireless device is kept connected to the
network, without losing the connection. The term
"roaming" originates from the GSM (Global System
for Mobile Communications) sphere; the term
"roaming" can also be applied to the CDMA
technology.TraditionalGSMRoamingisdefined(cf.
GSM Association Permanent Reference Document
AA.39) as the ability for a cellular customer to
automatically make and receive voice calls, send
andreceivedata,oraccessotherservices,including
home data services, when travelling outside the
geographicalcoverageareaofthehomenetwork,by
means of using a visited network. This can be done
by using a communication terminal or else just by
using the subscriber identity in the visited network.
Roaming is technically supported by mobility
management, authentication, authorization and
billingprocedures.
2.2. WHAT IS PLMN?
A public land mobile network (PLMN) is a United
States federal regulatory term in
telecommunications. A PLMN is a network that is
establishedandoperatedbyanadministrationorby
a recognized operating agency (ROA) for the
specific purpose of providing land mobile
telecommunications services to the public. A PLMN
isidentified by the MobileCountry Code (MCC) and
the Mobile Network Code (MNC). Each operator
providingmobileserviceshasitsownPLMN.PLMNs
interconnect with other PLMNs and Public switched
telephone networks (PSTN) for telephone
communicationsorwithinternetserviceprovidersfor
data and internet access of which links are defined
asinterconnectlinksbetweenproviders.Theselinks
mostly incorporate SDH digital transmission

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networks via fiber optic on land and digital
microwavelinks.
HPLMN denotes the Home PLMN (the PLMN
thecustomerbelongsto).
VPLMN denotes the Visitor PLMN (the PLMN
thecustomerisroamingin).

2.3. HOW MOBILE ATTACHING

TO NETWORKS

When you travel to a different country with your

mobile phone, your home operator may not have
coverage in the place you have traveled to.
However,youarestillabletomakeandreceivecalls
becauseyourmobilephonecan'roam'ontoanother
operator'snetwork,inthevisitedcountry.
This is possible because your home operator
has a 'roaming agreement' with an operator in
the visited country that enables you to use its
network.
Whenyouswitchonyourphoneintheforeign
country,yourmobilephonepicksuptheradiosignals
of one of the operators in that country. This local
operator will then 'authenticate' your mobile phone
withyourhomeoperator(e.g.checkifyouareavalid
customer, whether you are allowed to roam, etc.). If
your home operator responds with a positive
authentication,yourmobilephoneisreadyforuse.
Allyou have to do is toswitchyour phone on.
Operatorshavedonealotofworkbehindthescenes
to make this process completely automatic and it
typically takes only a few minutes to log on to the
localnetwork.
The location update procedure allows a mobile
device to inform the cellular network, whenever it
moves from one location area to the next. There are
several reasons why a mobile may provide updated
location information to the network. Whenever a
mobileisswitchedonoroff,thenetworkmayrequire
it to perform an IMSI attach or IMSI detach location
update procedure. Also, each mobile is required to
regularlyreportitslocationatasettimeintervalusing
a periodic location update procedure. Whenever a
mobilemovesfromonelocationareatothenextwhile
not on a call, a random location update is required.
This is also required of a stationary mobile that
reselects coverage from a cell in a different location
area, because of signal fade. Thus a subscriber has
reliable access to the network and may be reached
with a call, while enjoying the freedom of mobility
withinthewholecoveragearea.
Whenasubscriberispagedinanattempttodelivera
callorSMSandthesubscriberdoesnotreplytothat
pagethenthesubscriberismarkedasabsentinboth
theMSC/VLRandtheHLR(Mobilenotreachableflag
MNRF is set). The next time the mobile performs a
location update the HLR is updated and the mobile
notreachableflagiscleared.
Normal location updating
The normal location updating procedure is used to
update the registration of the actual Location Area of
aMobileStationinthenetwork.Thelocationupdating
type information element in the LOCATION
UPDATING REQUEST message shall indicate
normal location updating. The normal location
updating procedure shall also be started if the
net
wor

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k indicates that the Mobile Station is unknown in the
VLR as a response to MM connection establishment
request.
To limit the number of location updating attempts
made, where location updating is unsuccessful, an
attemptcounterisused.Theattemptcounterisreset
whenaMobileStationisswitchedonoraSIMcardis
inserted.
Periodic updating
Periodic updating may be used to notify periodically
the availability of the Mobile Station to the network.
Periodic updating is performed by using the location
updating procedure. The location updating type
information element in the LOCATION UPDATING
REQUESTmessageshallindicateperiodicupdating.
TheprocedureiscontrolledbythetimerT3212inthe
Mobile Station. If the timer is not already started, the
timer is started each time the Mobile Station enters
the MM IDLE substate NORMAL SERVICE or
ATTEMPTing TO UPDATE. The timer T3212 is held
when the Mobile Station leaves the MM IDLE state.
I.e. the timer is not running anymore, but the
remainingtimeismemorizedforthenextstart.
Thetimerisstopped(shallbesettoitsinitialvaluefor
thenextstart)when:
A LOCATION UPDATING ACCEPT or
LOCATIONUPDATINGREJECTmessageis
received
An AUTHENTICATION REJECT message is
received;
The first MM message is received, or
ciphering mode setting is completed in the
caseofMMconnectionestablishment,except
when the most recent service state is
LIMITEDSERVICE;
The MS has responded to paging and
thereafter has received the first correct layer
3messageexceptRRmessage;
Thetimerhasexpired.
The MS is deactivated (i.e. equipment
powereddownorSIMremoved).
When the timer reaches the T3212 timeout
value, the location updating procedure is
started.

3. STEERING OF ROAMING
3.1. WHY SOR REQUIRED?
Roaming contributes a substantial portion of a mobile operator's revenue. Typically, a home network has
very little control over the selection of networks for out-roamers. Many out-roamers continue to register on
visitednetworkswhicharenotpreferredbyHPLMN, makingitdifficulttocontrolroamingcostsand ensure
qualityofservice.

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Apicturewillspeak1000words;Ihopeyouunderstoodtheproblem.
So, HPLMN required some sort of legal and technical solution which solves there problem and providing
controlontrafficdistributionovertheVPLMN.
3.2. IS STEERING OF ROAMING IS LEGAL?
Most of the person has this question in mind, SoR is legal or not? The one word answer is Yes. IREG/
SignalworkGroupForumconcludedthesebelowstatements
SoRislegal
HPMNmayapplyservicetoanyroamingpartner
RoamingPartnersshouldallowitandcooperate
SS7-basedsolutionisvalidwith/withoutOTAintegration

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UserexperienceisHPMNsconsiderationonly
3.3. HOW SOR WORKS?
Whenever a Location update request coming from VLRs of VPLMN it will be
reroutedtoSoRnodetodeterminewhetherHPLMNshouldallowtherequestorelse
reject the request. SoR is a separate intelligent node which will have the database
fortakingdecision.

4. ANTI STEERING OF ROAMING

Any technical network-based methods that can effectively frustrate, counteract or undo the effect of SoR
whenappliedwithouttheconsentorparticipationofeithertheRoamingSubscriberortheHPMNOperator
(BARG BA.30). In laymans terms, Anti-SoR solutions are able to block update location messages from
reachingthesteeringplatformandarealsocapableofsendingmisleadingsignallingtodeceivethesteering
application.Anti-SoRpracticesnotonlyresultinasubstantiallossofrevenueforoperators,theyalsodisrupt
subscriberservicesbynotsupplyingtheoptimumservicesgivenbythehomenetworkoperator.
To identify potential Anti-SoR activities, the home network operator must instigate a lengthy three-phase
manualprocessthatincludesadailyexaminationofroamingrevenuedistribution,signaltracingandtesting.
Anti-SoRisnotlegalanditsactivitiesarebannedbytheGSMsBARGAssociation.

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5. REFERENCE
http://www.gsmworld.com/
http://www.starhome.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org
Digitalcellulartelecommunicationssystem(Phase2);(GSM04.08version4.23.1)