It’s been rumored for some time that mobile operators would begin deploying VoIP over their data channels, and if a new report is to be believed, it’s finally happening.
According to a new report in Network World (News - Alert), Sonus’s just-released 2015 VoLTE State-of-The-Market Report shows that “as mobile operators build out their broadband data networks using 4G LTE (News - Alert) (Long Term Evolution), Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is evolving as the platform of choice for delivering voice calls.”
According to author Larry Hettick, Editorial Director and Senior Research Fellow at Webtorials, “The survey included results from both mobile operators and enterprise IT professionals, and it shows the progress operators have made in their VoLTE deployments and what their enterprise customers have come to expect from their VoLTE platforms.”
Hettick goes on to note that VoLTE provides a long-term solution for voice so that 3G networks can be retired, thus eventually salvaging all available spectrum for LTE. VoLTE is based on standards completed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), providing Voice over IP (VoIP) that is supported by the IP Multimedia Subsystem (News - Alert) (IMS) architecture landline VoIP providers are deploying.
The survey also showed some interesting growth insights from carriers about VoLTE. To wit:
- Over half of mobile operators (67 percent) who responded to this survey said they already offer VoLTE or will offer it in 2015;
- Spectrum (News - Alert) efficiency was the highest scoring reason to deploy VoLTE among operators;
- 75 percent of carrier respondents cite VoLTE as enabling roaming between Wi-Fi and VoLTE networks.
On the customer side, there were also some encouraging signs:
- 79 percent of enterprise respondents see enterprise mobility as important to their business;
- 74 percent of enterprise IT professionals say it is important for carriers to deploy VoLTE;
- 43 percent of enterprise IT managers say that VoLTE integration with hosted UC services is important.
The full report is available HERE.
Edited by Dominick Sorrentino