MACH, PicoPoint Roam WLANs

LUXEMBOURG and AMSTERDAM -- MACH, the leading mobile roaming and clearing house, and PicoPoint, the leading Wireless ISP (WISP) back-office and roaming provider, team up to provide WLAN Roaming services. A trial has already been initiated and the target date for commercial launch of the service is 01 October 2003.

The partnership between MACH & PicoPoint creates great synergy. By leveraging their relationships with both the mobile operators and the Wireless ISPs, MACH & PicoPoint can quickly make Public WLAN roaming a reality for all involved parties in a simple and efficient manner.

End-users will be able to have a similar user experience at different providers, using their existing username & password or a SIM, provided by their mobile operator, as the basis for authentication. As charging for the service will be integrated into their mobile phone bill, administration is simplified and the experience will be equal to using the mobile phone on a different network: it just works.

As a company specialised in providing clearing & roaming services for the mobile industry, MACH extends its service portfolio to WLAN roaming, based on RADIUS and GSM SIM technology, hence keeping in line with its One-Stop Shop concept. Through MACH's existing clearing house relationships, it is possible for mobile operators to use the WLAN roaming service and therefore complete their wireless service offering, enhance Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), reduce churn and - most important - retain the relationship with their customers.

PicoPoint provides outsourced back-office and roaming functionalities for WISPs. As such, PicoPoint is an expert in the Public WLAN market and has established relationships with many WISPs around the globe. PicoPoint is one of the founding members of the Global Broadband Internet Access (GBIA) network, an international roaming enabled network of independent WISPs. GBIA will be the number one HotSpot locator for carrier-grade, roaming enabled HotSpots. By becoming part of the GBIA network, WISPs can extend coverage for their own subscribers and vice versa, enhance usage at their own network by accepting potentially millions of mobile phone subscribers.

MACH

PicoPoint B.V.