Movistar has launched voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) technology in Colombia, it has been reported. Speaking at the ANDICOM 2016 summit in Cartagena, Ariel Ponton, CEO of Movistar Colombia, told attendees: ‘Customers will benefit from 4G Voice from the moment they start the call, as this technology reduces the connection time from eight to less than three seconds’. The cellco reported a total of 1.7 million LTE subscribers as at 30 June 2016, equivalent to 12.9% of its 13.226 million-strong user base, although only around 300,000 are currently said to be in possession of a VoLTE-capable handset. The 4G network is available in 84 cities.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, in February 2016 Movistar enlisted Swedish telecoms vendor Ericsson to deploy what it claimed would be the country’s ‘first commercial virtual network for VoLTE’.