Telecoms target $120 billion VoLTE service revenue by 2020

VoLTE users to grow at 145 percent CAGR from 2012 to 2017
Telecom network operators are gearing up to make more investment in VoLTE networks to spruce up their service revenue in coming years.

Telecoms in VoLTE

Revenue from VoLTE services – supported by huge investment by global telecom network operators — will reach nearly $120 billion annually by 2020, said SNS Research.

The telecom research report is available from Research and Markets.

Orange, a leading telecom network operator, last month announced the roll-out of VoLTE and WiFi Calling across its European operations.

Orange says VoLTE technology will facilitate reduced connection times – dropping from approx. eight to two seconds — and improved simultaneous use of voice and high speed data.

With the launch of WiFi Calling, Orange is extending and complementing its mobile network to offer customers improved indoor coverage, responding to those customers who struggle to get reception inside their homes and businesses.

Indian telecom network operator Idea Cellular says its 4G LTE network will be equipped with the enhanced Fast Return feature enabling seamless toggle for consumers across Idea’s 4G, 3G and 2G networks.

“While the company possesses the capability to introduce VoLTE feature, existing customers’ current 4G devices do not support this feature. Idea Cellular will evaluate the deployment of VoLTE at a later stage,” said the company recently.

VoLTE devices

 

There were concerns about the availability of VoLTE devices.

GSA, in February 2016, said 118 operators are investing in VoLTE in 56 countries enabling an HD voice experience for their LTE customers. 46 telecom operators have commercially launched VoLTE-HD voice service in 29 countries. There are 300 VoLTE-capable devices including 275 smartphones.

Indian smartphone brand XOLO announced a VoLTE smartphone called XOLO ERA X for Rs 5,777 in the country. Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone are the key telecoms in the 4G space.

XOLO ERA X with 1.5 GHz Quad Core Processor and 2GB DDR3 RAM – targeting 4G VoLTE subscribers in India — supports download speed of  up to 150 Mbps and upload speed of up to 50 Mbps from their 4G networks.

SNS Research said VoLTE capable smartphone shipments will grow at a CAGR of 33 percent between 2015 and 2020, accounting for over 950 Million unit shipments by the end of 2020. As part of the NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) initiative, many vendors are integrating their virtualized VoLTE offerings with cloud platforms.

VoLTE shows signs of growth

 

Last week, IHS, a research agency, said telecom’s investment in VoLTE network has result into 31 percent increase in telecom service provider voice over IP (VoIP) and IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) revenue to $5.5 billion in 2015.

The telecom research report from IHS observed VoLTE launches in EMEA and Asia Pacific.

Diane Myers, senior research director for VoIP, UC and IMS at HIS, said: “In Asia Pacific, volumes were driven by Chinese telecom operators building up for VoLTE launches and providers in India getting ready for 2016, the results of the accumulation of activity we saw building throughout the year.”

Meanwhile, Strategy Analytics said products using 802.11ad, the fastest available Wi-Fi, will ship in a number of products this year, offering users wireless 4K UHD video streaming and file downloads at breathtaking speed.

The latest products using 802.11ad is referred to as multi-gigabit Wi-Fi or WiGig. Chipset makers Qualcomm and Intel recently decided to collaborate on interoperability.

Eric Smith, senior analyst, Tablet & Touchscreen Strategies, at Strategy Analytics, said 802.11ad has the same or lower power consumption than 802.11ac, but allows downloading a file in one fifth the time, significantly reducing the battery drain for data-intensive tasks.

The analysis report from SNS Research noted that mobile operators are making investment in VoLTE as the long term solution to secure a fully native IP based telephony experience. Nearly all VoLTE operators are committed to migrate existing mobile voice subscribers to LTE to re-farm their 2G and 3G spectrum.

Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com

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