Zain Kuwait completes VoLTE trial with Huawei and Nokia

Zain Kuwait said it has completed the country's first voice over LTE (VoLTE) trial over its LTE network with the help of network equipment manufacturers Huawei and Nokia Solutions and Networks, which is now known as the Networks division of Nokia.

Following the successful trial of the technology in "live" situations, the operator said it would launch VoLTE "in the near future" once compatible handsets are released.

Zain commented that the benefits of VoLTE to customers are better voice quality thanks to so-called high-definition voice, as well as low latency. The operator added that it takes approximately one second to set up a VoLTE call.

"The successful completion of Kuwait's first VoLTE call by Zain with our global technology solution providers Huawei and NSN gives further support to our strategy to bring the best technology to the country in a timely fashion," said Zain Kuwait CEO, Omar Al Omar.

VoLTE is picking up pace across the globe, as operators particularly in the U.S. start to launch the services. Indeed, ABI Research noted in a recent study that the extensive presence of LTE networks is stimulating the deployment of VoLTE.

By the end of 2014, there are expected to be 59.6 million VoLTE subscriptions in place, with nearly 56 per cent of LTE-related mobile subscriptions using VoLTE services by the end of 2019.

A separate report from Infonetics Research also found that VoLTE fuelled 37 per cent year-on-year growth in the carrier VoIP and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) market in the first quarter of this year.

For more:
- see this Zain Kuwait release

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