Roamware Has Big India Plans

Cupertino-based mobile-operator-service solutions provider Roamware Inc. has aggressive plans to compete in the country's roaming solutions market. The company e believes that the market opportunity of LTE-driven roaming-based solutions is around $40-$50 million over the next two-to-three years, of which it aims to capture a major share.

"Our experience is the biggest differentiator. This is a very peculiar space where technology is basically driven by open standards. Anybody and everybody can look at those standards and start building products. But since we are working with 500 different operators, we have a great understanding of the markets and the way products behave in different market conditions," says Kishore VVR, Vice President, Engineering, Roamware.

The LTE opportunity
Established in the year 2000, Roamware says that LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the next big thing in the country. In discussions with most of the top telecom operators to analyze their requirements to offer solutions, it says that interoperability and billing are the key challenges. The company is in advance talks with a leading operator and has done trials with the company.

Roamware helps companies build their roaming strategies and billing-integration-related challenges with the help of data analytics.

"Currently, operators are facing several challenges related to LTE roaming in India. Operators need to make huge investments in upgrading their infrastructure. They are trying to figure out how to monetize these investments," adds Kishore.

Its key competitors in India are MACH, Comviva Technologies Ltd. and Syniverse Technologies Inc..

Growth plans
Roamware has recently acquired ADECEF, a mobile-operator test-solutions company from Argentina and is further exploring funding options to acquire more companies, especially in Latin America, to diversify the portfolio and strengthen its geographical reach.

It is also exploring MVNO opportunity since it offers ready cloud-based infrastructure. "Anybody willing to start an MVNO today, the infrastructure can be hosted by us. So, they just have to start and sign up with the operator. We will provide the entire infrastructure," Kishore adds.

Roamware currently employs 275 people in India and plans to hire another 100 in view of its expansion plans. USA, Middle-East and India are the key markets for the company.

- Jatinder Singh, Principal Correspondent, Light Reading India