HD voice continues to steadily spread throughout the world, but it was a bit of a surprise to read Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) had turned up the first 2G GSM-based installation of HD voice in Russia with MegaFon. The equipment manufacturer had been relatively low-key in embracing mobile HD voice with Ericsson (News - Alert) and more recently Alcatel-Lucent emphasizing their respective carrier customers.

Deployments for mobile HD voice started in the 3G world in 2009, with Ericsson and France Telecom rolling out AMR-WB support on shiny new HSPA+ networks in markets across Europe.   Ericsson had suggested HD voice would show up on 2G networks at some point because there was a lot more 2G coverage around the world and carriers wanted to offer a seamless roaming experience across their networks; it wouldn't do to have an HD voice call start in 3G within a carrier network and drop back to narrowband when the person crossed over an unseen line to flip onto a 2G network.

NSN had previously announced it had provided the gear for Orange (News - Alert) Armenia's network modernization in a December 2010 press release, with “HD voice” buried in the text. Similarly, the company published a customer success story at the end of January claiming Tata DOCOMO of India as a NSN customer; again, a reference to HD voice was buried in the piece.

Contrast that with Huawei's (News - Alert) January 2011 release announcing it was supporting mobile HD voice service in North America on WIND Mobile's Canadian network. Huawei put AMR-WB and HD voice front and center in its announcement.

Alcatel-Lucent is a relative newcomer to promoting HD voice, but it is playing a key role in 4G LTE networks. It was one of two network partners -- the other being Ericsson -- to demonstrate voice over LTE (VoLTE) calling with Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless at Mobile World Congress in February. Part of the announcement/demonstration included the revelation that AMR-WB would be the default (HD voice) codec for VoLTE when Verizon rolls it out in 2012. The equipment manufacturer followed up the demonstration with a “Making the Shift to Mobile HD Voice” white paper in March. 

Putting all the pieces together, four mobile network hardware manufacturers now officially support AMR-WB and HD voice: Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia Siemens Networks. With NSN announcing its deployment of HD voice on a 2G network, it shouldn't be long before others join them. As noted, HD voice on 3G networks is solidly supported by three out of the four vendors listed above and two of the four support HD voice on LTE.

This leaves CDMA as the current “orphan” of HD voice support, but it's not for a lack of trying by Qualcomm. The company has been promoting “HD VoIP” on mobile using its EVRC-NW (Narrowband-wideband) codec since 2009, but there's been little public talk until recently.   Ericsson and Qualcomm announced a successful lab demonstration of EVRC-WB on Ericsson CDMA gear and last week ZTE (News - Alert) announced the successful test of CDMA2000 1x IOT with “HD voice” appearing in the release.

I believe there are two big hills for the adoption of HD voice on CDMA. First, CDMA is the ugly stepchild being overshadowed by 3G/HSPA+ and LTE deployments, especially in North America. Secondly, EVRC-WB represents Yet Another Codec for carriers and developers to support and transcode, adding more complexity. CDMA carriers may add HD voice for competitive reasons, but they aren't rushing out to do so at this time.

TMC and HD Voice News have recently released “HD Voice 2011: Critical Mass,” a report detailing the growth of the HD voice ecosystem.