Orange UK to Launch High-Definition Voice

Orange will reportedly become the first mobile operator to launch a 'High Definition Voice' service for its U.K. customers in 2010, with a full nationwide introduction later in 2010. Customers will require an 'HD' voice capable handset, and apparently none of the present Orange devices do.

 

HD Voice uses the Wideband Adaptive Multi-Rate speech codec, using bandwidth between 50 Hz and 7000 Hz compared to the current narrowband speech codec which uses 300 Hz to 3400 Hz.

 

The announcement is significant for several reasons. Orange hopes to use the enhanced capability as a way of gaining differentiation in the U.K. mobile market. But the move also is a partial fulfillment of the promise of IP communications, which is capable of better user experience than the older public switched network, not just the ability to offer consumers lower prices.

 

Some have argued that consumers have taken to VoIP services, despite some occasional quality issues, because they had been so widely accustomed to mobile voice audio quality, objectively and not only subjectively worse than landline quality. The Orange enhancement at least potentially could have positive impact, but in the opposite direction, making mobile voice audio quality objectively and subjectively better than either legacy mobile voice or landline voice using the public switched network.

 

“HD Voice really does inject a level of innovation into mobile phone calls, making it sound as if callers are actually in the same room,' Tom Alexander, Orange UK CEO, said. 'Once people have tried it, they won’t want to go back.”