Mobile-first is the only accurate descriptor for today’s society.  In fact, in a growing number of instances, mobile-only may be more accurate.  The computing power, connectivity, and communications capabilities of our mobile devices makes it so we don’t even need to slow down to use a desk or home phone, or laptop, or PC, if we don’t want to.  Nearly everything we want to do in terms of communication, entertainment, shopping, research and information gathering, and such, can be done on our mobile devices.

The ongoing challenge for mobile operators is how to leverage this mobile-first mentality when OTT services, like WhatsApp, Skype and others are beating operators at their own game and out-innovating them during this all-IP transition and the migration to LTE (News - Alert) networks we’re in the midst of - which also includes moving to Voice over LTE – or VoLTE.

The mobile operator – the carrier, in general, for that matter – has not always been the most agile in terms of technology migration.  There have been several good reasons, including the costs of deploying VoLTE in an economically efficient fashion.  But NFV is maturing rapidly, and proof of concepts have turned into trials, with wide-scale deployment not far off and promises to deliver the scale, flexibility, and economics to allow operators to become much more agile and help realize the benefits of delivering voice of their LTE networks.  It’s one of the major reasons why VoLTE rollout is expected to climb significantly for the remainder of the decade.

But, as this all begins to happen, operators will have to remain fully cognizant of the ongoing challenges that may arise — including, but not limited to rapid scalability, security, interoperability – while remaining agile and ensuring service reliability.  New services, especially real-time communications, can’t suffer from service instability or degradation without fallout in the form of subscriber defection.  There are just too many alternatives, and operators can’t afford to fail.

I recently moderated a webinar, hosted by GENBAND (News - Alert), where Greg Collins, founder of Exact Ventures, discussed the state of the VoLTE and virtualization markets, followed by Ashish Jain from GENBAND, who got into some of the very complexities that have been holding operators back – and what it will take for them to successfully deliver VoLTE services.  That includes the delivery of HD Voice services which, for those who haven’t had the pleasure, puts the standard voice quality to which we have become accustomed to shame – it’s crystal clear and precise, making conversations exponentially more enjoyable and productive.

If you missed “Solving the new ‘V-squared’ Mobile Carrier Challenge,” the on-demand version is available for you to enjoy at your convenience.

If you are part of the mobile ecosystem in any capacity, this is one event you should make time for – if it hasn’t already impacted your ability to grow revenue, it will eventually.