Orange said today that it has achieved a world first by achieving HD Voice call interconnect between two networks in different countries. A press release from the company said:
From today, Orange customers in Romania and Moldova will be able to enjoy HD quality voice calls between the two countries. For the first time in the world, Orange has been able to interconnect these two mobile network with different infrastructure to ensuring end-to-end HD voice quality from one country to another.
This achievement is the fruit of an international project team's labours, bringing together key skill sets within the Group, Moldova and Romania. The success of mobile HD voice in these adjacent countries, alongside their linguistic and cultural proximity, is at the root of Orange Romania and Orange Moldova's decision to extend the mobile HD voice offering between their two countries.
“Mobile HD voice offers noticeably better audio quality, and brings a real satisfaction to Orange clients. Almost 4 million customers have switched to HD voice in 14 countries, compared to 1 million customers a year ago. This is a true commercial success and demonstrates Orange’s commitment to give our customers the best mobile experience available”, said Paul-François Fournier, Orange’s Technocentre Executive VP.
Orange's ambition is to make HD voice calling accessible by 2013. As the world’s first operator to launch HD voice in Moldova in 2009, Orange is pursuing a strategy to make HD voice mobile generally accessible, for it to become the communication standard of tomorrow.
Orange already offers mobile HD voice in 14 countries: Moldova, Armenia, Belgium, France (Metropolitan and Reunion), Spain (Catalonia), United Kingdom, Egypt (Cairo), Luxembourg, Mauritius, Romania, Dominican Republic, Kenya, Uganda and Jordan. Further launches in Africa and the Middle East are scheduled by the end of 2012.