Voice over LTE (VoLTE) has 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, according to latest figures from Infonetics Research. However, there was a sequential decline of 9 per cent following a strong fourth quarter in 2013. The standout vendor in the first quarter was Alcatel-Lucent, which moved to the number one position due to strong growth of core IMS and voice application server revenue, particularly in North America, the research company added. AT&T, PCCW/HKT and other operators have already launched VoLTE services this year, and NTT DoCoMo is set to do so in June. All regions are up on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter, with Asia Pacific and North America forming the foundation for the IMS rise due to activity from mobile operators. Report