Retail roaming revenue to exceed $19 billion globally by 2027

A new study from Juniper Research has found that the value of the retail roaming market will reach $19 billion by 2027 globally; a substantial increase from $10 billion in 2022.

This growth of 98% in revenue will be driven by both an increase in the number of 5G roaming subscribers across key international travel corridors between North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, and data generated by these new 5G connections whilst roaming internationally.

The research anticipates that this increase in roaming data will be attributable to new devices, such as cellular-enabled laptops, wearables and tablets. It warns that this growth will necessitate increased operator reliance on roaming vendors to manage the ever-growing complexity of roaming ecosystems.

Mobileum, Tata Communications & Syniverse Lead
The new report, Retail Roaming: Regional Analysis, Business Models & Market Forecasts 2023-2027, assessed the leading vendors that enable operators’ retail roaming activities. It evaluated these vendors on criteria including depth and breadth of roaming partnerships, service and product offerings, and solution innovation. It ranked the top 3 vendors as follows:

1. Mobileum
2. Tata Communications
3. Syniverse

The research rated Mobileum as the leading roaming vendor; scoring highly on the completeness of its roaming solutions, including comprehensive services enabling both VoLTE (Voice over LTE) and 5G roaming for operators. In addition, it commended Mobileum’s overall strength in offering key value-added services over its roaming platforms, including roaming security and risk assessment solutions that protect operators’ roaming activity from fraud.

Roaming Data Services Key to Retail Roaming Growth
The report predicts that international travel will return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024. In turn, it urges roaming vendors to provide solutions that enable operators to create novel roaming services, such as real‑time self-management platforms protecting subscribers from data overuse whilst roaming. By providing these solutions, the report predicts that operators will be able to reduce the number of silent roamers and thus maximise roaming revenue from international travel.

CT Bureau