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.
Mavenir Systems, a provider of mobile infrastructure, has announced the availability of the VoLTE Edition of its mOne Convergence Platform, a tool designed to provide operators with options for deploying voice and messaging services over LTE.
For anyone who thought that voice over LTE (VoLTE) was the only thing sustaining the case for IMS, the evidence from Informa’s IMS World Forum, which was held this week in Barcelona, would suggest otherwise.
Italian telco Tiscali has announced plans to deploy a new, single platform IMS network in conjunction with Chinese vendor ZTE. The first three commercial sites – slated for Cagliari, Rome and Milan – will be launched by the end of May 2011; Tiscali subscribers will be migrated to the new platform by the end of the year. According to Tiscali general director Luca Scano, this is part of the telco’s “strategic orientation towards fixed-mobile convergence”.
A step in the right direction but does it go far enough?
Sharing an allowance among family members is one ...
I agree with Dan about this being a excellent read, and that QNX is not well known but sooner or ...
Excellent read with some actual facts compared to the hack journalist/bloggers on the interest. Many don't understand what QNX ...
The main issue with Telenor is that whether they made underhand payments to ge the licenses. If they did, then ...
Over The Top providers have become the staple wildcard in almost any sector set on a collision path with mobile. By and large they are very good at what they do: connecting a user with their chosen content or service by whatever means available.
Loading ...