MetroPCS has indicated it will begin voice over LTE trials in 2011 as the operator sees voice services as an important feature that rounds out its LTE services.
"We are planning for the future and making way for migrating voice to voice over LTE," said Metro PCS chief executive Roger Linquist during the company's third-quarter earnings conference call. "We have the ability to build capacity without regard for whether it will be used for voice or data."
In addition, Metro PCS, which has launched LTE in Las Vegas, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit and last week Philadelphia and Los Angeles, is aiming to launch at least a half a dozen smartphones next year in addition to the Samsung Craft.
Linquist said subscribers are responding well to Metro Studio, the carrier's content offering powered by Real Networks. Linquist repeatedly noted that customers want their smartphones to become entertainment devices, and Metro Studio combined with LTE allows the company to deliver that offering.
Metro PCS also said it will expand LTE services in 2011 to Atlanta, Boston, Jacksonville, Miami, New York, Orlando, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Tampa.
During the third quarter, MetroPCS added 223,249 net subscribers--an increase of 237 percent over the third quarter of 2009--bringing its total subscriber base to 7.8 million.
For more:
- see this Light Reading Mobile article
- check out this FierceWireless article
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