T-Mobile US and Reliance Jio have announced what they claim is the world’s first live 5G standalone (SA) roaming connection. The service enables T-Mobile customers visiting India to access Jio’s SA network, while Jio customers travelling to the US can roam on T-Mobile’s SA network. Syniverse provides the secure interconnection between the networks, with the operators promising faster speeds, lower latency and improved reliability.
5G SA roaming marks an important step towards extending differentiated 5G services across borders, potentially strengthening operators’ propositions for international travellers and enterprise IoT customers. However, scale remains a constraint: just over 20% of operators with commercial 5G networks had launched 5G SA as of 2025, according to GSMA Intelligence. Wider 5G SA deployment and roaming partnerships will be needed to translate this milestone into consistent international experiences and new revenue opportunities. More broadly, GSMA research finds that 5G SA could unlock a 5% uplift in overall consumer service revenues by 2030.
Mobile World Live: T-Mobile US, Jio claim first in SA 5G roaming