Carriers worldwide are seeking ways to improve the efficiency and capacity of their networks while minimizing costs and improving end-user experience. LTE has served this purpose well in terms of mobile broadband data access, but carriers are struggling to find solutions to fight declining revenues for voice services, the primary stream of revenue for most carriers. Voice over LTE (VoLTE) offers a potential solution. Not only does VoLTE offer unique advantages in lowering a carrier’s voice infrastructure economics, but it also promises to improve voice quality, device battery life and user experience by allowing concurrent voice and data services over a single LTE radio interface.

ARCchart forecasts that the number of devices supporting VoLTE will ramp significantly over the coming years, spurred by aggressive competition against OTT providers. By 2016, we expect a total installed base of over 74 million VoLTE-enabled handsets will be present in the market. However, the OTT mobile VoIP market will also continue to maintain healthy growth.

Topics of coverage include:

• Mobile voice over IP
• The rise of OTT mobile voice
• VoLTE business case
• Operator commitments and vendor selection
• Challenges to the VoLTE ecosystem
• Factors driving VoLTE deployment
• Technical problems addressed by VoLTE
• Circuit-switched voice
• VoLTE roadmap in the CDMA ecosystem
• VoLTE roadmap in the GSM ecosystem
• Market size and forecasts

Companies and organisations mentioned, discussed or reviewed include:

Acme Packet Alcatel-Lucent Ericsson Huawei Hutchison 3 JahJah KDDI Kineto

Korea Telecom KPN LG Uplus Mavenir MetroPCS Nokia Siemens Networks Qualcomm Radcom

Samsung SK Telecom Skype Telefonica O2 Telia Sonera T-Mobile Verizon Wireless

Answers and opinions are provided with respect to the following essential questions:

• What are operators’ attitudes towards VoLTE?
• How does VoLTE help carriers strengthen their position with mobile gadgets like tablets?
• How will VoLTE improve handset battery life?
• Why is it more economical for carriers to add future voice capacity using VoLTE?
• How many VoLTE enabled handsets will ship in the coming years?
• When will revenue from circuit-switched voice peak?
• How many VoLTE subscriptions will there be in 2016 and how will this compare to OTT mobile voice subscriptions?
• What intermediary technologies can carriers leverage before full migration to VoLTE?
• How does VoLTE help carriers defend against OTT voice services?
• In which regions will VoLTE first gain traction?