China Mobile (News - Alert) has customers totaling more than double the US population, so it is fair to say that when the company makes an announcement, it becomes industry and economic news around the world. The latest news is the announcement of the voice-over LTE (News - Alert) phones the company will implement next year as part of a push by the government to actively pursue 4G LTE TDD (Long-Term Evolution Time Division Duplex) deployment in the country. China Mobile will start introducing services using the 4G standard after regulators issue commercial 4G licenses to telecom operators later this year.
The introduction of these phones will include a full range of handsets designed to take advantage of the 4G network technology without the issues the company had in 2009 when it introduced 3G services. This time around it will be using industry supported standards in order to attract global mobile manufacturers.
The phones that have received regulatory approval are the Samsung’s (News - Alert) Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy S4, as well as devices from Sony, Huawei Technologies and ZTE. These handsets will be able to make hi-definition calls over the 4G network and when they arrive in the second half of 2014. Because LTE technology requires new phones and cellular networks, the rollout has been slow in China and most other countries around the world.
"Once they receive a network access license, the LTE devices can start to be sold. In total, eight LTE TDD products have passed regulatory checks," said Tang Jianfeng, vice general manager for China Mobile’s devices company.
With VoLTE, carriers won't need dedicated frequency for voice traffic on towers because this technology transmits your voice on a data network, just like VoIP technology. This will result in lower prices and more options for users such as talking and running data applications at the same time with more efficiency and high-definition voice and video chat.
Service providers are still working out the kinks on how to bill VoLTE because the service is just another data app, meaning the charge by minute model will have to be scrapped.
Edited by Blaise McNamee