Alcatel-Lucent will supply LTE overlay network to Taiwanese telecom service provider Asia Pacific Telecom (APT) to offer Voice over LTE (VoLTE).
Tony Zee, CTO of APT said: “Our new LTE network and VoLTE service are aligned with APT’s vision enabling simultaneous conversation experiences over any device, webpage and application whether it be voice, video or data.”
LTE subscriptions in Taiwan are expected to reach 14.8 million by 2018, representing 40.3 percent of the total number of people in Taiwan with mobile devices.
Taiwan has become a significant player in the ultra-broadband market with both fixed and mobile access predicted to reach $13.6 billion by 2018 through a nationwide fiber-optic network rollout and LTE launch.
While other telecom service providers in Taiwan hold VoLTE licenses, APT is the first to announce actual deployment plans.
Initial deployment of APT’s LTE network and VoLTE service will begin in the first part of 2014 in the North, Central and South areas of Taiwan. APT aims to complete the deployment by the end this year.
Alcatel-Lucent solution includes LTE overlay network (Radio Access Network, Evolved Packet Core and Mobile Backhaul), IMS solution for VoLTE (IMS core, IMS applications, IP Border Controller and Subscriber Data Manager), Payment (SurePay) and Policy (Dynamic Service Controller) and Analytics (Wireless Network Guardian) solutions.
Alcatel-Lucent claims that it is a leader in VoLTE with 88 million subscriber licenses shipped.