2015 has been an exciting year in the tech sector, with the Internet of Things (IoT) kicking into high gear as individuals and businesses find innovative new ways to automate, connect and collaborate. Networking is also undergoing massive changes as NFV and SDN technologies gain traction and mobile networking speeds break world records.
As LTE (News - Alert) Advanced Pro becomes a reality and mobile operators take important steps toward achieving 5G, exciting growth is also taking place in the areas of VoLTE and VoWiFi. Devices supporting each of these networking standards will enable blazing fast transmission of voice and data using IMS networks. This also marks a turning point in the evolution of VoIP, making voice just another service running on IMS.
VoLTE enables specific profiles for the control and media planes of voice services, allowing smooth and speedy transmission of voice over high-speed data networks. Voice is, in fact, delivered as a data flow within the LTE data bearer, requiring no dependency on legacy circuit-switched voice networks. VoLTE has as much as three times the voice and data capacity of 3G UMTS and contains smaller packet headers than unoptimized VoIP running over LTE, freeing up more bandwidth.
2015 was certainly a good year for VoLTE deployments, and AT&T (News - Alert) Mobility just announced today that its VoLTE service is available across its entire LTE network, supporting more than 27 million active users. Vodafone Italy and Huawei teamed on a VoLTE solution using NFV-compliant core networking earlier this year, and ZTE, China Unicom, HP, Spark New Zealand and Telefonica (News - Alert) Germany were among a handful of operators and service providers trialing VoLTE in 2015.
According to Research and Markets, the global VoLTE subscriber base is set to grow at an amazing 100.64 percent CAGR from 2014 to 2019. Uptake will be fueled by integration of VoLTE and VoWiFi as well as growing popularity of services among enterprises.
VoWiFi certainly holds massive potential as it will enable mobile subscribers to experience a seamless transition as they move among cellular networks and existing WiFi (News - Alert) networks. It can also provide an international roaming solution at a fraction of a cost of traditional roaming, making it a valuable growth market for mobile operators.
Edited by Kyle Piscioniere