Ooredoo 'first to deploy' VoLTE in Qatar; available for all users in 2016

Ooredoo Qatar says that voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) will be commercially available for all its users nationwide in 2016, having launched a pre-commercial phase this week covering large parts of Doha, which it claims makes it the first operator in Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to introduce VoLTE across a substantial part of its network. VoLTE will enable customers to make HD voice calls over the 4G data network with faster call setup times, while users will be able to switch between ongoing voice calls and high-quality video calls, plus browse the internet on the 4G network while still on a call. Ooredoo’s press release adds that the VoLTE implementation is based on software-defined data centre architecture and a range of cutting-edge technologies including network function virtualisation and software-defined networking.