AT&T Says First VoLTE Handset Due This Year
Oct 8, 2013, 10:44 AM by Eric M. Zeman
AT&T today indicated that it is preparing to release a smartphone capable of making VoLTE calls by the end of the year. The news was shared by Krish Prabhu, the president of AT&T Labs, who was speaking at PCIA technology conference. VoLTE allows voice calls to be passed over the LTE data network rather than the traditional voice network. AT&T said when two VoLTE-capable handsets call one another, the call will be transmitted in HD, which is clearer than standard calls. AT&T expects to launch VoLTE services widely during the first half of 2014. Verizon Wireless is also on track to deliver a VoLTE handset this year, with a wide-scale launch planned for next year. Prabhu further noted that AT&T is prepared to conduct carrier aggregation trials later this year, which makes more effective use of varied spectrum bands. Last, AT&T said that its entire LTE network is read to be updated to LTE Advanced Release 10 through a software upgrade once its vendors have the software prepared.