Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) was established in 2003 by a group of visionary telecom operators as a global forum for wireless broadband ecosystem. As a unique mix of broadband, cellular and integrated operators, the founders viewed Wi-Fi as an integral and strategic complement to other wireless and broadband networks such as 3G/UMTS, WiMAX, DSL, Cable, and more.
WBA has developed a range of technical enablers and commercial frameworks, including the award-winning WRiX (Wireless Roaming Intermediary Exchange). These developments have been adopted successfully by leading operators and roaming providers globally to deliver a consistent Wi-Fi roaming experience to end-users and to reduce implementation time and effort for service providers. Increasingly, the technical enablers created by WBA are being adopted by wider ecosystem to integrate Wi-Fi across other technologies and for supporting opportunities such as 3G to Wi-Fi offload and WiMAX to Wi-Fi interworking.
WBA members include an influential group of 50 leading wireless broadband industry players from around the world. Collectively, the operators in WBA own a global footprint of 220,000 hotpots worldwide, spanning key markets, cities and locations across Europe, Asia Pacific and Americas, with a significant pool of more than 600 million subscribers.