The recent release of the iPhone 6 has increased discussion about VoLTE, but so far, the technology is just getting started. A July report by Infonetics (News - Alert) found that three percent of carriers it surveyed currently deploy VoLTE. The good news is that the same survey found that 83 percent of carriers will deploy VoLTE by 2016. This rapid growth will make VoLTE a $30 billion industry by 2019, according to ABI research. In the next year alone, GSA (News - Alert) expects the number of VoLTE deployments to double.
When you see what VoLTE has to offer, it’s not surprising why it’s expected to grow so quickly. The technology treats voice and data activity the same. Everything is in data packets, so the device doesn’t care whether you’re talking or surfing the web; VoLTE will even let you do both simultaneously. Older technology puts voice in cellular packets and data activity in data packets; the older phones cannot process both types of packets at the same time. High definition voice, video calling and improved battery life are among the other VoLTE benefits.
In the short term, VoLTE will have some glitches that have to be worked out. On Verizon’s (News - Alert) network, for example, several conditions have to be met before a VoLTE call is initiated. Both parties in a call must have a phone that supports high-definition voice and the feature must be enabled. They must also both be connected to a 4G LTE (News - Alert) network. If either person on the call moves out of 4G LTE coverage during the call, it will be dropped.
Only a handful of devices support VoLTE and these are all in the high-end of the market, so consumers on a budget won’t be able to afford them initially, but that won’t last. Eventually, VoLTE will become more available to affordable devices and the technical issues will be ironed out. AT&T (News - Alert) plans to retire its older 2G and 3G network and the other major carriers have similar plans. It’s no longer a question of whether VoLTE will become the standard for wireless, but simply a question of when it will happen.
Edited by Alisen Downey