T-Mobile and Jio switch on world's first 5G standalone roaming link

T-Mobile and India’s Reliance Jio have switched on what they describe as the world’s first 5G standalone (SA) roaming connection, enabling customers to keep a full 5G SA experience when travelling between the United States and India.

The link, announced on Monday, was enabled through interoperability with Syniverse’s connectivity and mediation platform, which handles the interworking between the two networks. It allows T-Mobile customers visiting India to roam on Jio’s nationwide 5G SA network, and Jio customers in the United States to roam on T-Mobile’s 5G SA network.

Unlike most 5G roaming today — which falls back to 4G or 5G non-standalone infrastructure that leans on a 4G core — the SA roaming link runs on dedicated 5G cores on both sides, delivering faster speeds, lower latency and more reliable connections, and opening the door to standalone-only features such as network slicing.

“This is a monumental step for global wireless, and T-Mobile is proud to lead it,” said Ankur Kapoor, T-Mobile’s chief network officer. “We started this journey back in 2020, laying the groundwork for a 5G Standalone future.”

Mark Yarkosky, Jio’s head of international network, partnership and services, called it “a transformational milestone” that lays the foundation for new cross-network capabilities, from differentiated consumer and enterprise services to AI-enabled services.

Sources

• T-Mobile and Jio Achieve World’s First 5G Standalone Roaming — Business Wire
• T-Mobile, Jio launch world’s first 5G Standalone roaming connection — Business Standard
• T-Mobile Jio 5G roaming: world’s first 5G standalone roaming connection with Syniverse — Economic Times
• T-Mobile says achieves world’s first 5G SA roaming connection with India’s Jio — ET Telecom