T-Mobile announced on Wednesday that it and six other carrier members of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) now offer seamless Wi-Fi roaming.

The partnership represents 11,500 hotspot locations. Participating carriers include:

• BT Group (UK)
  
• Maxis (Malaysia)
  
• NTT Communications (Japan)
  
• StarHub (Singapore)
  
• Telecom Italia (Italy)
  
• T-Mobile (USA)
  
• Telstra (Australia)
  

The WBA roaming network looks something like this:

China Netcome is also a WBA member but not yet a part of the roaming network; I don't have a date when they'll participate. One thing to keep in mind is that this roaming deal only applies to hotspots owned by their respective carriers; it does not apply to the separate roaming partners that each carrier may have established on their own.

For instance, T-Mobile USA subscribers have the added bonus of accessing the Wi-Fi networks of T-Mobile carriers in Europe. This means that a US customer who is paying $20/month (plus a monthly fee for a T-Mobile cellular plan) can get Wi-Fi access in a dozen countries without spending a dime extra (at least for now). T-Mobile indicated that it plans to charge extra for international roaming.

If T-Mobile Can Add Six Partners, Why Not Add Wayport?
This roaming partnership is no trivial feat. It has taken more than a year for this effort to go live and I understand that there are many revenue-share issues to be resolved still. Apparently the carriers would all like to agree on one access fee (instead of the Europeans charging twice what T-Mobile USA charges); I'm doubtful that all parties can agree on one fee and still remain flexible enough to stay competitive as fees continue downward. Nevertheless, this deal is a big step forward and quite valuable to the international business traveler, a highly coveted customer segment to all carriers.

Which brings me to Wayport, the Wi-Fi gorilla in the US, with plenty of hotels under its belt and a growing number of McDonald's locations. Why can't T-Mobile get a deal done with these guys? Wayport is more than happy to sell T-Mobile access to its network, at least that's what Wayport tells me. They're not asking for a reciprocal roaming agreement or anything that would let a potential competitor onto T-Mobile's network.

T-Mobile remains mum on the issue. I hear lots of rumors why they haven't done a deal yet and it's impossible to envision a way that T-Mobile could avoid such a roaming deal. So, until T-Mobile gets more aggressive locally, the windshield warrior will take a back seat to the international road warrior.