BICS, a Proximus Global company, expands global independent 5G roaming with two new operators

BICS, an international communications services provider owned by Proximus Global, has announced significant progress in its continued push for 5G SA international roaming. Following the successful completion of trials, BICS has made 5G SA roaming available to two new operators.Drei and Elisa join BICS' growing community of commercial 5G SA operators as the first to enable the service in their respective countries.

5G SA is the mature version of 5G, as opposed to the NSA version that relies on the core of 4G networks, which is already in widespread use in 2019. 5G SA offers lower latency and greater efficiency, representing a major leap forward in network technology. However, according to the GSMA, Europe is lagging relatively behind in 5G SA deployments compared to markets such as China, India and the US, but leads in the number of operators planning to roll out 5G SA in the future, suggesting significant growth potential in the coming years.

Building a compelling business case and the readiness required to launch international roaming services has always been a difficult hurdle, but this is changing. Enterprise customers have long been seen as a core target group for 5G, and according to Kaleido Intelligence, 5G IoT roaming traffic is expected to grow by 500 percent over the next two years.

Drei and Elisa are leading the way as 5G SA leaders in their respective markets. This success is due to direct investments in their core networks and the adoption of BICS' Service Hub solution. “The Service Hub is a connectivity hub that utilizes advanced Transport Layer Security (TLS) technology and a comprehensive 5G management portal. The solution simplifies roaming connection management while providing additional benefits such as roaming control and detailed analytics. With this service, BICS is driving a growing community of 5G SA commercial mobile network operators (MNOs), with eight operators now commercially available and interconnected.

Jorn Vercamert, Chief Product Officer of Proximus Global, who will assume his role on May 1, 2025, said, “The potential of 5G depends on operators and industry leaders pushing innovation and pushing boundaries. Advances in the global Internet of Things are spurring demand and bringing us closer to a critical tipping point. Operators investing in the right infrastructure now will lead and thrive when 5G becomes ubiquitous, and BICS' leadership in delivering global connectivity is critical to Proximus Global's mission to drive 'connecting, securing, and linking everyone, everything, everywhere.' ”

Opening up these two markets marks another milestone in the 5G SA space for BICS, which established the first connection of its kind in a lab environment in 2021, followed by the first global 5G SA real-time roaming connection between the Middle East and Europe last year, and then Asia's first connection with AIS in Thailand. Gaining a head start has enabled BICS to establish a full production environment for its 5G Services Hub, supporting operators and ensuring the industry is ready for the 5G SA tipping point.

Bernhard Sommer, Head of Strategy and Services at Drei Wholesale, said, “Collaborating with BICS on 5G standalone roaming is an important step in our journey to deliver next-generation connectivity services to our customers. This partnership allows us to unlock new possibilities in cross-border communications.”

Mika Pyyppönen, Head of Telecommunication Services at Elisa, said, “Elisa is a pioneer in digital services, and our partnership with BICS on 5G SA enables us to offer our customers extremely advanced international roaming capabilities and a seamless experience. We are excited to lead the development of innovative international 5G services. Over the next few years, our main goal is to work with our global partners to expand the reach of 5G SA, VoLTE and VoNR roaming services.”