Nokia Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent Complete VoIP Over LTE Calls

Supporting voice over LTE is a big nut that most vendors are trying to crack, and two big milestones have been crossed this week in the quest to make VoLTE truly commercially viable.

Nokia Siemens Networks has completed successful IMS-compliant voice calls and SMS messaging using 3GPP-standardized LTE equipment, it said Thursday and says it will also soon conduct VoLTE test calls with a fully implemented IMS system, all in support of the “One Voice” initiative.

Not to be outdone, Alcatel-Lucent, Kineto Wireless and Deutsche Telekom announced on the same day that they too have called and texted across standard LTE equipment, but using the interim standard from the 3GPP known as VoLGA.

One Voice is an initiative that identifies a technical profile for a minimum mandatory set of features for IMS voice and SMS over LTE. VoLGA meanwhile is a complementary solution for voice and SMS over LTE for operators who have not yet deployed IMS cores, based on the existing 3GPP Generic Access Network (GAN) standard. VoLGA and One Voice are both packet voice solutions over the LTE network and use many common technologies.

The success of the calls and texts over commercial, 3GPP-standardized user and network equipment demonstrate the viability for running voice across LTE. Though most LTE trials and deployment plans are on data service, LTE also has important benefits for voice service as it offers the highest spectral efficiency for voice. Also, the delivery of voice over LTE networks means operators will in the future be able to provide all services over the same all-IP network, driving down the expense of operating parallel legacy and LTE networks.

The VoLGA calls were made between a test system installed at Deutsche Telekom headquarters in Bonn, Germany, based on Kineto's VoLGA implementation and a second independent system from ALU, installed in their Stuttgart test center. Both VoLGA-based systems support inbound and outbound voice calling and SMS messaging between LTE-enabled devices and standard mobile and fixed telephones.

"Voice calling is an essential service for mobile operators. This demonstration is a key milestone towards establishing a future-proof ecosystem and shows a cost-efficient way for using voice over LTE," said Uwe Janssen, senior vice president of core networks at DT, in a statement. "The VoLGA test shows how operators could quickly and easily provide next-generation voice services, re-using their existing core networks. At the same time this serves as a first step to prepare networks for the industry-agreed mid- and long-term solution for voice over LTE that will be based on IMS."

The One Voice calls were made from a laptop equipped with the NSN Communication Suite “softphone” application and an LG LTE USB datacard.

“Voice will continue to be an important application in mobile networks now and in the future,” said Jürgen Walter, head of converged core at NSN. “This successful LTE voice call takes us a step closer to realizing commercial voice over LTE services. And the fact that we can now demonstrate this functionality with both FDD and TDD variants of LTE means that we are well on track to successfully introduce standardized LTE voice and SMS to all parts of the world.”

NSN recently conducted the world’s first LTE call and handover using commercial base station and fully standards-compliant software, and is conducting end-to-end interoperability testing with four device vendors in different frequency bands. It recently announced completion of the first interoperability tests with LG in the 2100 MHz band.

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