Reliance Jio and T-Mobile have completed the world’s first 5G Standalone (SA) roaming connection, the two carriers announced on September 21, 2026. The link runs through interoperability with Syniverse, the global connectivity platform that handles the interworking between the two networks.
The achievement means T-Mobile subscribers traveling to India can now stay on a true 5G SA connection instead of falling back to a 4G or 5G NSA network, and Jio customers get the same benefit when they land in the US. Until now, international roamers on any network typically dropped down to older infrastructure the moment they crossed a border, even if their home network ran on 5G SA.
The two operators say the connection brings faster speeds, lower latency, and steadier service than earlier roaming setups, and opens the door to features that depend on standalone architecture, including network slicing and low-latency applications for IoT and real-time communication.
Ankur Kapoor, T-Mobile’s Chief Network Officer, called it a monumental step for global wireless and said T-Mobile is proud to lead it, noting the company’s SA groundwork goes back to 2020. Jio’s Mark Yarkosky, who heads international network partnerships and services, described the link as a transformational milestone that goes beyond roaming, calling it a foundation for new cross-network capabilities between the two 5G Standalone leaders.
The rollout follows more than a year of testing. Reports from October 2025 had already flagged Jio and T-Mobile’s plan to launch SA roaming between India and the US by the end of that year, with Jio remaining the only Indian operator running a full 5G SA network while Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea continue to rely on non-standalone setups.
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