Roaming model was invented in the early days of GSM to enable travelers to go around freely and still be able to use their mobile phone while going to another country. It had to imitate the model based on the SS7 model, that was the basics of telecom from Bell lab days.
If the call attempt was made the network will ask the home network operator about the capabilities of the handset owner and hence enable the individual handset as to what it can perform. It was the same case for voice and then for data. Then the reconciliation between different network operators happenned through intermediaries called the clearing houses.
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It was a great and innovative model. It served the purposes well. It was amazing to be able to go to another country and make a call as if you were home. But this was 20 years ago…
After many changes and betterments on top of the original model the crux of the matter prety much stayed the same. The SS7 type of mentality prevailed. Today still, when a subscriber makes a call the same type of mechanism works. Even, in todays IP world, as everything is delivered almost locally at the point of consumption, the roamer is directed to the home operator DNS servers each time he clicks a link within his internet browser for IP resolution and the latency kicks in, the consumer experiences less than ideal latency times.
To top it of the commercial model of doing business suffers. I will touch upon this with some numbers, below is a visualization of the models financial output as we look out to the globe, thanks to trawell data people.

​Global world wide mobile network traffic per month is 17 exabytes per month this data is created by 5.2 billion mobile subscribers around the world hence average monthly individual use of data on mobile networks is a bit over 3 GB per month according to Statistica, OECD average is a little shy of 3 GB per month. However, mobile data while roaming is in the 100MBs to 200 MBs range per travelled month.
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Consumers found many solutions already for this problem, it is inconvenient but real. Instead of drinking important water , consumers that are travelling buy local water, that i sthey buy local sim cards.Like the T-Mobile prepaid card for tourists https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid/marketing/prepaid-international-tourist-plan

​Yes they loose their numbers , yes they have to cary the original sim in their pocket and not loose it. Hey, instead of paying $10 , $20 dollars per day … 80% of the world travelers are not using the convenience of mobile data while roaming like they do at home. They have purchased local Sim cards from the local mobile operator. They cary around a second phone sometimes. They do rent wifi hot spots.

The need is simple : ‘I want water tastes and costs like the water I drink at home.’ Isn’t data like water more or less? People drink water 15 times a day or so. How many times people check their phones? 80 times according to many research. The data deprivation while traveling internationally called roaming has caused consumers on a global scale pain. Normally, traveling increases data dependency , one needs to find new places, drive to unknown directions, convert currencies and share beloved ones memories and share experiences. It should be safe to assume increase will be twice (2x) as much. Hence, instead of the postulated 6 GBs, consumers spend 100 Mbs or less or some 80% not at all. If this is not deprivation what is?
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The mobile industry has produced 5% of world economy, with its impact on other ecosystem partners so far. Immersing travelers into the experiences of other lands gives us humans, another opportunity to connect human kind at a deeper level especially with the promise of 5G , augmented reality, streaming experiences via Oculus Go type of headsets. So this could give help resolving problems of a troubled world. More on that later in this series…

“Every person on Earth would have to do a calculation every second of every day for just over four years to match what an exascale machine will be able to do in a flash.” by Martin Giles July 11, 2018 in MIT Technology Review
These are the headlines behind quantum computing, fuzzy logic rather than 1s and 0s or a state in between like our brain does. It is faster , more efficient.
The possibilities are endless like with every new tech. We can model the universe, we can understand the layers of atmosphere and create better models of our worlds weather behaviours and hence be better prepared. We can model the behaviors of mass populations around the world. We can possibly model and understand the roots of hatred that originates from differences between people and the has its spreaders on the internet. Patterns of bird migration, spread of deaseases and many other things about the needs and wants of the human species. As humans we can possibly solve more problems.

#artificialintelligence  #quantumcomputing #elonmusk #stephenhawking

Have met and partnered over the course of my career many great entrepreneurs. They created businesses, products , services. Some of them in their 20s some of them late 50s. All of them had one theme in common at one stage in their business journey. Do I have to scale up and beyond and go global?Or excel local first.
For many, it is a scary thought to go do business in a foreign country. Doing business in country that that you might not speak the language of. Different alphabets? Customs, cross border trade , regulations, cultural differences, political ups and downs.
On the downside, global arena is intimidating, it is unfamiliar, unpredictable and confusing at times. The way different cultures comprehend time, social responsibility , performance and ethical code of behavior change on a large bouquet of colors. It almost makes the behaviors of your counterparts challenging to comprehend.
On the upside however, it is a world full of wonders. Great people with great ideas. Some-ideas , even in todays global village take time to be implemented across borders. New perspectives brought into a culture carried over from another cultural origin makes impactful and creative changes to businesses and lives of others in that culture on a positive way.

All in all on a last count , I realize that I have done business in 20 countries so far. Some developed world countries , some developing world countries. Different cultural backgrounds, religions , races. Different climate conditions -40 degrees celcius /fahrenheit all the way to 50 degrees celcius / 122 fahrenheit. Humid - dry. Fast to slow. Made and lost money in some, the experiences that make me understand the world better today contributed to my journey in business life.
Each of the dimensions… excelling and conquering the world… To bring strength to both of the dimensions require resources. The paralel fulfillment of strengthening both dimensions in a balanced manner is doable. Learning from international expansion efforts and excelling and contributing to product and service specs on one of two chains and excelling in product specs to go after global conquest on the other chain. Both intertwined and inseparable like the DNAs two chains coiling around each other.
A team comprised of inherited international business DNA with top area specific know how. Team mates that have done business in 3 or more countries was a selection criteria was the recipe I used when I have establishing my latest company on my conquest to make the world a better place.

#startup #diversity #excellence #global