Australia’s Telstra on Wednesday revealed it has begun rolling out voice over LTE (VoLTE) to its contract customers.
The service is called 4G Calling, and will initially be available in "most parts of our network…where there is 3G and 4G coverage available," explained Mike Wright, group managing director of networks at Telstra, in a blog post.
Launching VoLTE forms part of Telstra’s three-year, A$5 billion network investment plan.
"To be ready for the switch to 4G Calling, customers with an eligible device must ensure their device software is updated," said Wright. "Once VoLTE has been activated, customers should experience a seamless transition, with the only give away being the 4G icon remaining on during voice calls."
Apple’s new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus will be among the first enabled devices, along with Samsung’s recently-unveiled Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+.
Telstra’s postpaid subscribers will be the first to receive VoLTE, followed at a later date by enterprise customers and then prepaid customers.
"The roll out of VoLTE will be staggered, gradually enabling the full HD capability for different types of calls," such as 4G-to-4G, 4G-to-fixed, 4G-to-3G, and so on, said Wright.
Telstra is the first telco in Australia to roll out VoLTE but rivals are not far behind.
According to the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), Optus is currently trialling the technology, while Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) has reached the deployment phase.
