Bell signs HSPA roaming agreement with AT&T

Filed under: ATT, Bell Mobility, HSDPA, HSUPA

Networks in the GSMA's technology path have an easier time roaming around the world (whether pricing is easy on the wallet is another story altogether) -- but naturally, you've got to have the roaming agreements in place to make the globetrotting a reality. Up in Canada, Bell's wasting now time getting those deals lined up so that customers are good to go the moment it flips the switch and lights up its brand-spanking-new HSPA network as it makes the transition from CDMA; specifically, it's announced during its second quarter earnings call that it has hooked up with AT&T for a symbiotic relationship that'll let Bell customers roam on AT&T's network and vice versa. Interestingly, the agreement allows Bell's phones to roam both on HSPA and legacy GSM in the States while AT&T customers will be strictly HSPA when they're on Bell, reinforcing two things: one, Bell's likely lined up to be North America's first commercial UMTS network without legacy compatibility, and two, Bell's phones -- at least some of them -- will rock GSM / EDGE for use abroad (we should certainly hope so).

[Via MobileSyrup]

Bell signs HSPA roaming agreement with AT&T originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source : http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/08/06/bell-sign...