In what the two companies claim as a world first, Swedish telecoms behemoth and network operator China Mobile have, for the first time, made a dual mode HD voice call over LTE between TD-LTE and LTE.
Based on ST-Ericsson’s Thor LTE modem and Renesas Mobile’s quad-mode chipsets, the breakthrough call over LTE TDD/FDD converged network infrastructure provided by Ericsson. The Swedish vendor said it had supported China Mobile in demonstrating the dual mode HD voice call over LTE (VoLTE) between the TD-LTE and LTE FDD, paving the way for the commercial launch of Voice over TD-LTE.
Ericsson confirmed that the Thor LTE modem and Renesas Mobile quad-mode chipsets are now ready for mass production.
According to Ericsson, TD-LTE and LTE FDD have a technical similarity of over 90 percent, making it possible for both networks and terminal chipsets to share a common commercial platform. By deploying communication services over an all-IP LTE network, Ericsson said the opportunity opens up to evolve the voice business and launch new services like HD voice and video calling. Several network operators have already launched commercial VoLTE services, Ericsson added, with the demand for TD-LTE voice services growing due to TD-LTE voice enabling TD-LTE operators to free up their 2G and 3G radio spectrum. From the beginning of 2013, network operators in 45 countries have launched HD voice over WCDMA/GSM/LTE in 61 live networks, according to Ericsson.
In December 2012, Ericsson assisted China Mobile Hong Kong in demonstrating the world’s first live, seamless, bidirectional LTE TDD/FDD interworking on the converged LTE TDD/FDD network. The launch of this converged network architecture, based on the recognized 3GPP standard, combines the power of both networks to benefit both China Mobile Hong Kong and its subscribers.
Mats Norin, executive vice president and CTO for ST-Ericsson added: “ST-Ericsson’s Thor modem solutions and NovaThor ModAp solutions are multimode platforms that are capable of supporting TD-LTE/LTE FDD/WCDMA/TD-SCDMA/GSM. In addition, ST-Ericsson’s modem and ModAp platforms are able to provide complete voice solutions including VoLTE, CSFB and SRVCC.”
At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, China Mobile is showcasing a series of new apps in an LTE TDD/FDD integrated network environment where it is demonstrating an TD-LTE end-to-end converged ecosystem. Network infrastructure at their display, as well as the integration of multi-frequency bands and multi-vendor systems and terminals, are provided by Ericsson.