VoLTE Comes to Life
Earlier this year Verizon Wireless CTO Tony Melone told the Nomura U.S. Media and Telecom Summit that while his company was optimistic about VoLTE, they were in no rush to deploy it. So while MetroPCS, SK Telecom, and LG U+ clamor to be first past the post, giants like Verizon are content to allow the technology to emerge as part of a longer-term growth strategy.
However, in talking to representatives from the company the attitude seems decidedly a simple matter of “not if, but when.” “We’re focused on our 4G LTE network build and will introduce VoLTE in due course,” Debra Lewis, a spokesperson for Verizon Wireless, told Pipeline. “We don’t have any specific timelines or comments on pricing to share.”
Nevertheless, Lewis asserts that VoLTE has a number of benefits, and that these benefits have a lot to do with its existence as a common standard. “VoLTE is a global industry standard, and focusing on this standard ensures that equipment providers, OEMs and operators can be assured of interoperability and scale,” she said. “Following the industry specification also helps avoid fragmentation and confusion for customers.” These statements get into a deeper benefit of VoLTE adoption that may tip carriers in favor of the technology more quickly than any of the single benefits previously listed.
“We expect VoLTE to support all call scenarios available today, so calls to other wireless and wireline carriers will be supported.” However, there are other reasons for rollout patience: VoLTE may not work with all existing legacy systems. “Keep in mind that while the plan is for VoLTE to operate in our LTE footprint, some of the technology we have chosen [AMR-wideband] is not supported in existing 2G/3G networks, preventing backward compatibility or call handoffs between the networks.” Lewis contends that instead of being a cause for rejection of VoLTE, it’s simply a reason to continue a steady rollout of 4G LTE services.
Therefore, while some may resist the growth of VoLTE it seems to be gaining considerable weight as a standard. Perhaps, over the long haul, service providers may find themselves singing with one voice.
