Mobile network operators and their equipment providers are working hard to make mobile telephony networks to LTE (Long Term Evolution) data-oriented a reality, with the number of demos at Mobile World Congress, a sign that you are getting closer.
The GSM Association (GSMA), a body of industry, is conducting a demonstration with U.S. Verizon operator using a network from Alcatel-Lucent and LG Electronics ' smartphone revolution. Verizon is also involved in a second demo that uses a smartphone from Samsung and a network from Ericsson.
So far, Verizon Wireless was the most vocal on the need of telephony in its LTE network and said it expects to launch commercial voice over LTE services in 2012.
Demonstrating Voice over LTE--that is fully IP-based and uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to set the call--is pretty boring because it works just like a normal phone call, but the industry is an important step, according to Dan Warren, senior director of technology at the GSMA. The availability of standardized LTE voice will help you take off quickly, he said.
The voice quality in GSMA-LG demo-Alcatel-Lucent has seemed an improvement on current mobile networks, despite the circumstances, less-than-perfect. Smartphone LG HD Voice codecs contained a, which uses more bandwidth than the regular voice codecs for better voice quality. HD Voice is already available in some networks, 3 G, but going all IP-will be making technology easier to implement, said Warren. Low latency, LTE network, compared to 3 G, will also improve the voice quality when calling long distance, Warren said.
In November 2009, a group of 12 mobile operators and manufacturers formed the group with one voice to ensure widespread adoption of a common standard for voice over LTE and avoid fragmentation on technical matters. The project has attracted more members and changed its name to GSMA on LTE initiative where, under the guidance of the GSMA, working on voice over LTE (VoLTE) specification has been progressing steadily.
Most of the work has been finalized. In March, the roaming part of the specification will also be ready, according to Warren. In September, a phone number and network of suppliers will get together under the banner of MultiService Forum interoperability testing to do. A laboratory of Vodafone in Düsseldorf and a Mobile China research lab in Beijing will be used to conduct the tests.
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