LTE voice: T-Mobile alone in pushing specs

Regardless of being the only mobile operator involved in the Voice over LTE via Generic Access (VoLGA) Forum, T-Mobile International is pushing ahead with its efforts to introduce an alternative way to deliver voice services over LTE networks. The group plans to publish the second version of the VoLGA spec which it hopes will bring it closer to a final document ready for submission to the 3GPP standards body by year end.

According to an Unstrung report, the VoLGA initiative is at the centre of disagreements within the mobile industry over how to support legacy circuit-switched voice and SMS services. Operators remain undecided regarding the preferred method to deliver these services, and Nokia Siemens Networks has broken away from backing VoLGA and is believed to be developing a proprietary solution.

Given that some operators are planning to deploy LTE next year, the lack of an agreed approach for voice-over-LTE is causing increased concern to advocates of the technology--heightened by the impact this could have on the industry's biggest sources of service revenue generation, voice and SMS.

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Unstrung

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