Alcatel-Lucent has announced that VoLTE accounts for 70 percent of the more than 125 million VoIP subscriber licences it has shipped.
The France-based vendor said demand for superfast broadband access to converged voice, video, data and applications has led to more than 88 million licences issued for VoLTE alone.
It added that “a number” of the 40 or so customers using its 4G LTE infrastructure are in the process of deploying VoLTE.
Moving to VoLTE helps operators to reduce opex by shifting to an all IP network, to free up spectrum and to combine high definition, voice, video and data, according to A-L.
A-L’s President of IP Platforms Andrew McDonald said providing an end-to-end solution is important because VoLTE “resets the bar” for new mobile voice by leveraging tight integration across the device and network.
According to Infonetics, A-L was one of several vendors that saw VoIP and IMS revenues grow 20 percent in the final quarter of last year, largely thanks to demand in the United States, China and Japan.
Infonetics analyst Diane Myers commented: “IP communications is the path for today’s operator to remain relevant and meet marketing, end users and business customers expectations within increasingly condensed timeframes. It requires operators to build networks that can meet all of the requirements of faster, nimbler, and innovative without compromising network performance and availability.”
According to a January report from Juniper Research, despite widespread adoption among mobile operators for the increased network efficiency it affords, direct revenues from VoLTE will be low.