It’s no secret we are in the middle of a mobile revolution. There’s a mobile app we can download to our smartphones designed to make just about any activity in our modern lives more convenient, more productive or more organized. Or more connected to our friends, family, colleagues … and the world in general!

Mobile operators are bearing the brunt of this huge growth in mobile usage. Faced with stiff competition from other service providers, OTT (over-the-top) services and business models, and savvy consumers looking for the best deal in mobile voice and data plans, mobile operators are looking at ways to satisfy end user demand for connectivity anywhere and everywhere, without breaking the bank building out high-speed, high capacity data networks.

These are some of the challenges facing mobile netork operators today, which we had the opportunity to explain in more detail in an article that appears in the current edition of Small Cell Magazine[1]. You can check it out for yourself online.

With a limit to the number of costly macro cells that can be built, many of the more forward-looking mobile operators we are talking to are already tackling these challenges by turning to Small Cells, and increasingly to Carrier Wi-Fi, to boost both the coverage and capacity of their networks. By either building out their own Wi-Fi footprint, or by working closely with Wi-Fi network partners such as fixed or cable operators, mobile operators can ‘offload’ subscribers’ mobile traffic to Wi-Fi access networks while maintaining close control on the end user experience and quality of service. And they can enjoy considerable savings in both CAPEX and OPEX by doing so. They are even finding new ways to generate potential sources of revenue.

The key to enabling this offload? A secure gateway to connect and integrate small cells or Wi-Fi access points of any kind to the mobile core network. One such gateway is the WAG (Wireless Access Gateway), a standards-based product offered by GENBAND. With the ability to handle new services such as VoWiFi, seamless handover between VoWiFi and VoLTE, the new Wi-Fi Hotspot 2.0 and Next Generation Hotspot roaming and mobility technologies, there really are not many products on the market that are as flexible or powerful as this. Whether you are a mobile operator or a cable or fixed Wi-Fi network operator and looking to enhance Wi-Fi roaming I encourage you to check out the full article at Small Cell Magazine.