Sweden’s Tele2 has announced that it is the first operator in Europe to have tested voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) in a live 4G network. The company said that the tests have been conducted using technology from Mavenir Systems and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) over Tele2’s LTE network in Sweden. Joachim Horn of Tele2 commented: ‘We have consciously built in support for VoLTE in the 4G network, covering almost the entire population of Sweden. The tests we have conducted have shown tremendous results in a multi-vendor environment. From a technical standpoint we could be ready to launch commercially within a year.’
VoLTE is the next generation technology for transporting voice traffic as an IP data stream in LTE. Currently, most LTE networks are solely used for data traffic whilst voice traffic is still handled in the 2G and 3G networks. Joachim Horn continued: ‘Not only does VoLTE enable superior voice and data experience simultaneously for our customers, but the technology is also more cost efficient.’