UMA Today was an international consortium of companies that joined together to lead the adoption of

3GPP The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is an umbrella term for a number of standards organizations which develop protocols for mobile telecommunications. Its best known work is the development and maintenance of: * GSM and related 2G and ...

Unlicensed Mobile Access Wi-Fi calling, also called VoWiFi, refers to mobile phone voice calls and data that are made over IP networks using Wi-Fi, instead of the cell towers provided by cellular networks. Using this feature, compatible handsets are able to route ...

(UMA) technology around the world in the late 2000s.

History

The consortium was formed in 2005 by mobile phone operators and vendors to promote the UMA technology. UMA was the commercial name for the global 3GPP

Generic Access Network Wi-Fi calling, also called VoWiFi, refers to mobile phone voice calls and data that are made over IP networks using Wi-Fi, instead of the cell towers provided by cellular networks. Using this feature, compatible handsets are able to route ...

(GAN) standard for fixed-mobile convergence (FMC). UMA enabled secure, scalable access to mobile voice, data and

IP Multimedia Subsystem The IP Multimedia Subsystem or IP Multimedia Core Network Subsystem (IMS) is a standardised architectural framework for delivering IP multimedia services. Historically, mobile phones have provided voice call services over a circuit-switched-sty ...

(IMS) services over broadband IP access networks. By deploying UMA, mobile operators could deliver a number of compelling FMC services. The most well-known applications of UMA include dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular phones. Some operators around the world embraced UMA as the foundation for their FMC strategies, including

France Telecom Orange S.A. (; formerly , stylised as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation founded in 1988 and headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris. ''Orange'' has been the corporation's main brand for mobile, ...

/Orange,

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...

(USA),

Rogers Wireless Rogers Wireless Inc. is a Canadian mobile network operator headquartered in Toronto, providing service nationally throughout Canada. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The company had revenues of just under $15.1 billion in ...

TeliaSonera Telia Company AB is a Swedish Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company and mobile network operator present in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Telia also owns TV4 Media which includes TV4 in S ...

and

Cincinnati Bell Cincinnati Bell, Inc., doing business as Altafiber, is a regional telecommunications service provider based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It provides landline telephone, fiber-optic Internet, and IPTV services through its subsidiaries Alt ...

. UMA Today published the UMA Today Magazine, hosted Webinars, sent news alerts to a subscription lists, and involved in other industry activity to promote UMA technology. In addition, UMA Today co-sponsored the UMA Innovation Awards with Orange/France Telecom in 2008 and 2009. By October 2010,

T-Mobile USA T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. Its majority shareholder and namesake is the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom. T-Mobile is the second largest wireless carrier ...

announced it was using Kineto Wireless Smart Wi-Fi technology as the enabling technology for its

Wi-Fi Calling Wi-Fi calling, also called VoWiFi, refers to mobile phone voice calls and data that are made over IP networks using Wi-Fi, instead of the cell towers provided by cellular networks. Using this feature, compatible handsets are able to route r ...

service offer. At its peak operator coverage, over a dozen networks had deployed UMA services, with more than thirty companies developing UMA-compatible products. While technology has since advanced, UMA Today laid foundational groundwork for seamless Wi‑Fi calling and dual‑mode handset services.

References

External links

Archive of UMA Today official web site

UMA Today blog
{{Dead link, date=March 2021
BlackBerry Curve 8320 Wins UMA Innovation Award, Mobile Shop, Feb. 2009

Orange and UMA Today Announce Second Annual UMA Innovation Awards

Technology trade associations Wi-Fi VoIP organizations