It is testament to Telstra’s aggressive approach to mobile broadband that an operator in a country of just over 23 million people should rank in the top ten operators worldwide in terms of LTE subscriber numbers. Mike Wright, Telstra’s executive director for networks and access technologies talks to Telecoms.com about the firm’s plans for further enhancing its LTE operation with fresh spectrum and LTE-Advanced capabilities.
Pierre François Dubois, VP product development, Technocentre, Orange, France is speaking on ‘Maximising the benefits of LTE with RCS’ on Day One of the LTE World Summit, the premier 4G event for the telecoms industry, is taking place on the 24th-26th June 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Ahead of the show we speak to him about how RCS will both benefit consumers and help to maximise operator revenue.
The most challenging aspect of introducing Voice over LTE services (VoLTE) will be deciding how and whether to transition individual legacy voice services to the new domain, according to Michel Lenoir, programme manager for LTE at Vodafone Netherlands
We speak to Glenn Booth, VP of wireless portfolio & strategy at Alcatel-Lucent, about winning last year’s Broadband InfoVision Award for ‘Best Broadband Access – Fixed’ for its lightRadio solutions portfolio.
Dr J W Byun, the CTO of SK Telecom, South Korea is speaking on Day One of the LTE World Summit, taking place on 24-26 June 2013 at The RAI, Amsterdam. Ahead of the show we speak to him about how SK Telecom has been able to extend its global lead in LTE and gives some insights into what he sees coming down the line for telecoms.
Voice over LTE is one of the most complex technologies being deployed within the framework of the LTE roadmap, says Peter Carson, senior director for marketing at Qualcomm. And operators have a lot of work ahead of them if they are to retain their status as the natural providers of voice and maximise the benefits of the move to a single network technology.
Technology innovation appeared thin on the ground at this year’s Mobile World Congress, but the challenge of enhancing performance and capacity by better utilising existing network resources remained a key focus for many network vendors.
The African arm of Indian operator Bharti Airtel has begun deployment of HD voice services, beginning in Rwanda, Kenya and Malawi. The firm said that these deployments are the “first step” in its ambition to roll the technology out across its entire African footprint.
Mobile operators are moving to a data-centric world. LTE has become the most rapidly deployed cellular network technology in the industry’s history and the demise of circuit switching—while still on the distant horizon—is now in sight.
Calls conducted on VoIP over LTE (VoLTE) consume twice as much power as those over a 2G CDMA network an investigation has found.
US carrier MetroPCS has taken a lead in the US by becoming the first network to offer Rich Communications Services (RCS) on its LTE network. RCS is designed to offer enhanced features such as chat, messaging and content sharing directly via the network, rather than through third party offerings.
J. Sebastian Lee, vice president of media business strategy at Group Media & Communications Office, KT, is speaking at the Broadband World Forum 2012, taking place on the 16 – 18 October 2012 at the RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre, Amsterdam. Ahead of the show we speak to him about KT’s recent achievements and how KT is continuing to innovate in the LTE space.
Solyman Ashrafi is vice president of product management at MetroPCS and is on the LTE North America advisory board. He is speaking on the Voice over LTE track on Day Two of the LTE North America 2012 conference, taking place on the 14-15th November 2012 at the Fairmont Dallas Hotel, Texas. Ahead of the conference we speak to him about where MetroPCS is with its VoLTE deployment and what the challenges it expects to face in the future.
Dr. Choi, Jin-sung, is senior vice president and head of technology strategy office for SK Telecom, Korea. He is speaking at the CxO operator panel discussion on the opening day of the LTE Asia conference 2012, taking place on the 18-19 September 2012 at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. He is also speaking on Day Two about VoLTE, and ahead of the conference we catch up with him to learn more about SK Telekom’s progress on this important LTE technology.
South Korean operator SKT and USA’s MetroPCS have both announced launches of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services. SKT will brand its VoLTE offering ‘HD Voice’ and said that the service will allow it to begin cutting the ties with legacy voice networks as well as better compete with over-the-top VoIP services.
Data might be the driving force behind LTE’s gathering pace, but there’s no escaping the fact that voice continues to be the killer application for mobile operators. “Smart” they may be, but drop the “phone” element from the current crop of devices and you’re dropping 64 per cent of your revenues—according to Ovum research, this is the percentage of MNO turnover that voice will generate by 2015.
Figures from industry body the GSMA reveal that 208 operators in 80 countries are now investing in LTE. But while rollouts aimed at consumers are gaining momentum, a study undertaken by research house mobileSquared indicates that one third of operators have no trials or network deployments underway at the moment.
As voice becomes commoditised, carriers are looking for new services, not replacement ones, says Broadsoft CTO Scott Hoffpauir. And voice over LTE (VoLTE) will be the game-changer in a fragmenting market, allowing carriers to utilise an all-IP environment to roll out new and compelling services alongside voice.
Telcos and kit makers have responded with indignation to last week’s International Multimedia Telecommunications Consortium’s (IMTC) announcement to the effect that it had completed the first ever voice over LTE (VoLTE) test on a live LTE infrastructure. While it’s not quite Elisha Gray vs Alexander Graham Bell, it seems that, when it comes to VoLTE, everybody wants to be a winner
The International Multimedia Telecommunications Consortium (IMTC) has completed what it says is the first ever voice over LTE (VoLTE) test on a live LTE infrastructure. The test, which took place at the SuperOp annual telecoms testing event in Hawaii, involved key industry players Ericsson, Huawei, Samsung, Intel Mobile and ST Ericsson, among others.
Consolidation, convergence and competitionCalls for consolidation in the European mobile market grow louder by the week and four-operator markets look increasingly challenged. Now, those mobile operators that have already built scale seem to be suggesting that there is no option but to expand yet further through diversification.
It is testament to Telstra’s aggressive approach to mobile broadband that an operator in a country of just over 23 million people should rank in the top ten operators worldwide in terms of LTE subscriber numbers. Mike Wright, Telstra’s executive director for networks and access technologies talks to Telecoms.com about the firm’s plans for further enhancing its LTE operation with fresh spectrum and LTE-Advanced capabilities.
Jonathan Bell, VP of Marketing at OpenCloud, discusses how policy and pricing are just two dimensions along which telecoms operators can differentiate their propositions. By adding a third dimension, the service behaviour itself, operators can define and bring true innovation to the market that surpasses the traditional approaches of the past, he says.
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With summer supposedly fast approaching, many look to trim some fat and get in shape for the sunny months. The Informer has never been a huge fan of gyms; in fact his favourite machine in the gym is the one that sells chocolate. Telefonica’s UK arm O2, is one business that is looking to get lean for the holidays, though, and this week it announced that it is to trim 3,500 UK employees.