Voice Over LTE's Future Is Far From Loud and Clear

­Although mobile network operators and technology suppliers are firmly committed to LTE as the cornerstone for 4G networks, major disagreements about the importance of including voice service as part of early LTE deployments could lead to the kind of industry fragmentation that adversely affected 3G rollouts, according to the latest report from Unstrung Insider.

"Nearly everyone in the mobile phone industry agrees that LTE is the way forward for data, but that consensus does not extend to voice over LTE as yet," notes John Blau, research analyst with Unstrung Insider and author of the report. "Some mobile operators view LTE initially as a data-only play and do not see a powerful case for rushing into voice, while other operators are worried that LTE without voice could be off to a difficult start."

Lack of progress in developing IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) for mobile applications is seen as a big problem for voice over LTE implementations, Blau says. "Over the coming months, operators, vendors, and the 3GPP standards body will face some tough decisions," he adds. "For those operators that believe voice is absolutely essential to have in their LTE service portfolio from the start, interim solutions will be necessary to fill the gap created by the slow progress of IMS. These interim solutions could create the kind of technology fragmentation that occurred in 3G networks."

Key findings:

• The VoLGA Forum, which proposes an interim packetized approach to carrying voice traffic over LTE, has completed the third and final phase of its specification process and will pursue standardization during 2010.
• One major OEM in the VoLGA Forum has no plans to develop, manufacture, and market the interim voice over LTE solution.
• Most equipment vendors shy away from providing exact information about their planned LTE voice products and their availability.
• Over-the-top VoIP players may pose a greater threat to network-based mobile service players than many of them are willing to believe.
• The IMS platform has been slow in coming to the mobile world, and many now fear it has become too complex.

Posted to the site on 28th October 2009