U.S., South Korea propel VoLTE forward

The United States and South Korea are leading the global movement behind Voice over LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) as voice moves to become one more data application among many, according to a new report from innovation firm Infonetics Technology. During not that surprising--the United States and South Korea are two of the leading countries behind LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) adoption in general--the report underscores the momentum toward VoLTE as a viable alternative to circuit-switched voice, in spite of there being no commercial deployments but in the U.S. market. According to the report, during the first VoLTE deployments will take place in the second half of this year, Infonetics believes there will be 300,000 VoLTE subscribers globally by year's-end. Verizon Wireless, which has an LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) network covering two-thirds of the U.S. population, does not have to rush to deploy a Voice over LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) solution, nevertheless will add the capability to its network later this year, Verizon Communications CTO Tony Melone has said. "We're optimistic and bullish yet we're not rushing it. We will enable it in 2012," he said at an investor conference in late May. "My view is there is no reason to force clients to it." He said for a certain time period Verizon will allow clients to use VoLTE with Rich Communication Suite as so then as traditional CDMA voice to allow them to get used to the idea of voice being an application. He said that later in 2013 and into 2014, Verizon may begin to offer VoLTE as its only voice offering. MetroPCS executives have said the company will launch two to three smartphones with VoLTE in the second half of this year. MetroPCS wants to migrate voice service to VoLTE so it can refarm the spectrum it uses for CDMA service. AT&T Mobility plans to have VoLTE in place by 2013, and Clearwire has said it will offer VoLTE when it launches its TD-LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) network by the middle of 2013. "The U.S. and Asia, especially South Korea, are leading the voice over LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) charge, with Verizon Wireless, MetroPCS, SK Telecom and LG U+ all planning to launch VoLTE services this year," said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Technology, who noted the strong momentum in South Korea. "This is all good news for VoLTE, clearly, nevertheless to put it in perspective, even with the VoLTE market ramping quickly here on out, by 2016 VoLTE will make up only about 14 percent of global mobile VoIP revenue, during over-the-top mobile VoIP continues to make up the lion's share by a long shot."

Separate recent report from innovation firm ARCchart

According to a separate recent report from innovation firm ARCchart, revenue from VoLTE services will reach $2 billion by 2016.

For more: - see this release Related Articles: Verizon's Melone: There is no rush for VoLTE VoLTE infrastructure earnings doubled in Q1, according to Dell'Oro North American VoLTE preparations propel IMS spending Clearwire CTO: We'll offer VoLTE when we launch TD-LTE network Interoperability issues aside, OEMs should consider VoLTE as a tool for innovation

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