Airtel may launch VoLTE services in next quarter

As it looks to take on Reliance Jio, country's top mobile operator Bharti Airtel, which is currently undergoing trials for voice over LTE (VoLTE) in some cities including Mumbai, plans to launch commercial services in the next quarter.

Although Airtel has not shared an exact timeline but people aware of the plans said the Sunil Bharti Mittal-owned firm is likely to launch VoLTE services in next quarter. Also, Airtel's 4G footprint will cover all the towns and cities by end of 2017 financial year. The company has already launched 4G services in all the 22 telecom circles but a few cities and towns in the circles are currently not getting the latest technology but the company is upgrading its network to cover most of the country by end of FY17.

When asked for a comment, an Airtel spokesperson said, "We are piloting/testing VoLTE in a few places but there are no launch timelines that we can share at this point."

During an investor call on Q4 results, Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal had said that VoLTE would be very relevant in the key cities, in the next 12 months to 18 months. "And mid-band, given the site density that we have in most of these large cities, is a very good spectrum to deliver solid VoLTE experience. That said, we also have sub-gigahertz spectrum in many circles and we will look at deploying equipment -- radio equipment, which has the capability to move to LTE on the basis of a software switch. So we are future-proofing our network in all our key cities," Vittal had said.

Similarly, Vodafone India is undergoing trials for VoLTE and plans to launch services shortly.

"Vodafone has been leading the deployment of VoLTE in Europe and we are leveraging that know how to launch in India. We are currently in the trial stages and hope to launch our services using this technology shortly," a Vodafone spokesperson said.

Idea Cellular, another incumbent operator, feels VoLTE is a capability that is still developing and the ecosystem among devices is minuscule and confined to the high-end variety. "The year ahead will see a greater proliferation of the right priced devices, leading to greater adoption as telecom operators offer the service. Idea will introduce the service after thorough testing," Idea spokesperson said.

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio had launched VoLTE when it commenced services last year. The company already has over 112 million subscribers.

According to a report by telecom network gear maker Ericsson, by the end of 2022, the VoLTE subscriber base in India is pegged at 370 million.

"VoLTE represents a great opportunity for telecom operators in India who are looking to route voice calls over 4G LTE networks enabling lower cost per minute for voice calls as well as free up legacy spectrum bands for re-farming," Nitin Bansal, Head of Network Products, Ericsson India said.

The introduction of VoLTE will unleash a superior experience for users by enabling high quality voice and video calling as well as other rich communication services from their device's native dialer with no need of additional applications.