In this final blog in our five-part series we consider future opportunities and challenges for IPX international interconnectivity and roaming as networks and services evolve.

IPX already supports a roaming interconnection for a broad range of services. It has evolved from providing support for legacy circuit switched voice and messaging, to encompass full data roaming, enhanced messaging – and VoLTE is spreading rapidly.

At the same time, use cases have also evolved. IoT applications have proliferated, across multiple generations of technology, while QoS-aware services have long been on the table. Today, this environment is set to evolve still further.

That’s because full 5G roaming is coming your way. With 5G SA, slicing is foundational, which means that new classes of differentiated services will be enabled – across different slice types, like standardised slice types such as eMBB, V2X, URLLC, MIoT, as well as customised slices for specialised use cases.

So, the IPX environment is only set to become more complex and diverse. Consequently, testing, validating, assuring and protecting IPX services will become even more important.

Not only do you have a broad portfolio of existing IPX services to maintain – each of which is subject to evolution, both in terms of standards and in terms of the vendor releases that you have to deploy in your network – you’ll also need to support an even more diverse and differentiated service set.

Operators need to adapt to support valuable and more demanding new services over IPX

This new panoply of services means that operators will need to adapt to support new services over IPX, to remain both competitive and an attractive roaming partner for inbound visitors and devices.

But it’s not just an extended and more demanding range of services to support for roamers and for your customers. There’s another dimension to consider: new partners.

MVNOs have long been part of the roaming ecosystem, with many building out their own portfolio of roaming connections, directly or via hubs. This will continue – but others are entering the game.

For example, Non-terrestrial Networks or NTNs. NTNs offer new ways to enhance and extend connectivity, supplementing coverage in remote areas, as well as potentially offering new roaming opportunities.

They are already a vital and growing component of global roaming ecosystem. For example, the global satellite NTN market size is forecast to grow from $4.41 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $4.59 billion in 2026, and on to $7.02 billion by 2034 – a CAGR of 5.46% over the period.

Opinion does differ – for example, Strategic Market Research puts the market at $4.5 billion by 2030. Whichever view you take, NTN roaming is set to grow rapidly and significantly, especially with the spread of direct-to-device communication.

And other kinds of networks and therefore use cases are emerging. For example, private networks, previously considered as islands, disconnected from public networks, will likely need connectivity for roamers that visit them, as well as for devices that exit the private domain and roam into public spaces.

MNOs will be well-placed to offer these roaming services but will have to make sure that they can deliver the performance that’s required – and maintain security to the appropriate level. This will add new dimensions to IR.21 and IR.85 agreements – and to corresponding SLAs.

Similarly, massive IoT (enabled by dedicated slices) will also take off – and include numerous cross-border requirements. Massive IoT growth is well documented –  Statista forecasts that the Massive IoT market will grow from $1.35 billion, with projections estimating it will reach over $3 billion by 2032, with the broader global IoT market predicted to reach $1 trillion.

Meanwhile, Ericsson predicts that Massive IoT connections will grow from around 4.5 billion at the end of 2025 to between 5.9 billion and 7.8 billion by 2035.

More pertinent to this report is IPX and the Mobile IoT opportunity… and challenge. Mobile IoT is a subset of IoT in general. It includes use cases such as connected cars, asset tracking, shipping, logistics, health monitoring for travellers, emergency SOS tracking, and more – all of which demand cross-border roaming.

In practice, this will require delivery and enforcement of a host of specialised service options and QoS requirements, backed by reporting mechanisms to verify that the required assurance is delivered.

And, since every operator must inform their roaming partners of any changes they make to their network and services to ensure compatibility and maintenance of roaming SLAs and service performance, the implementation of any such changes must be validated.

In other words, IPX and roaming services are set for a significant boost, creating new opportunities but also demanding a new level of service verification, validation and continuous assurance in live networks.

Emblasoft Evolver can help you meet these challenges

Emblasoft Evolver offers a comprehensive solution for testing, validating, and continuously assuring all your services, systems, network architecture, and applications: now and in the future. We have deep experience of 5G SA and other generations of roaming, and support all required interfaces across the full lifecycle of your assets.

We also continue to evolve our own solutions to ensure that you can meet all your performance, SLA, and compliance requirements as your assets and services evolve. For example, we’ve long pioneered validation of the new SEPP native function. You can also read our case study, which highlights how the versatility of Evolver enables you to test, validate and assure multiple scenarios for 5G control plane roaming, including the crucial N32 interface.

For example, we have recently added passive control and user plane monitoring to our growing portfolio. This means that you can monitor activities in your live network and, thanks to the rich data collection and analytics, both validate that roamers to your network are receiving the requisite service levels in real time and, at the same time, while also providing key insights to your IPX partners so they can track services outside their network.

The natively multi-tenant approach means that traffic can be segmented, so you deliver only the information and insights needed to specific partners. This means that you can transform service assurance into something you can safely and securely share with your partners. They get the objective information they need to validate SLA compliance but with no exposure to traffic that belongs to other partners.

This means that we can help you to protect your existing and future investments through a single, unified, comprehensive solution – that spans the full service lifecycle, extending from service validation and performance testing to active monitoring of the control and user plane, as well as passive probing and analytics.

Contact us today to discuss your requirements, so you can confidently capitalise on new roaming opportunities.