Carrier joins NTT DoCoMo and HKT in revealing its VoLTE plans this week, making it the first Tier 1 to launch 4G voice in the US.

Sarah Thomas, Director, Women in Comms

May 15, 2014

1 Min Read
AT&T Confirms VoLTE Launch in 4 States

As expected, AT&T will launch its first voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) markets on May 23. (See AT&T to Gain 4G Voice May 23?)

The carrier confirmed on Thursday that it will introduce high-definition VoLTE in selected areas of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin next week. At launch, the HD VoLTE service will be only enabled on the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, but AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) says more VoLTE-enabled devices are to come.

AT&T marks the third VoLTE announcement this week, and the first launch date confirmed by a Tier 1 operator in the US. Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc. (NYSE: DCM) said it would turn on its 4G voice service in late June, and Hong Kong's HKT Ltd. also announced its VoLTE launch with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. enabling seamless handover 4G to 3G and between voice and video calls. (See NTT DoCoMo to Launch VoLTE Service.)

Analysts at Heavy Reading have maintained that VoLTE is necessary, valuable, and can expand a mobile network operator's addressable market. On the tail of these three launches, Heavy Reading analyst Gabriel Brown says widespread deployment of VoLTE now looks certain in advanced markets.

"Virtually all mobile operators with a sizeable LTE access network have now decided to deploy an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based core, and Heavy Reading expects a number of commercial services launches in 2014, especially by large, progressive mobile broadband operators, with more to follow in 2015," he tells Light Reading.

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Editor, Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

Sarah Thomas

Director, Women in Comms

Sarah Thomas's love affair with communications began in 2003 when she bought her first cellphone, a pink RAZR, which she duly "bedazzled" with the help of superglue and her dad.

She joined the editorial staff at Light Reading in 2010 and has been covering mobile technologies ever since. Sarah got her start covering telecom in 2007 at Telephony, later Connected Planet, may it rest in peace. Her non-telecom work experience includes a brief foray into public relations at Fleishman-Hillard (her cussin' upset the clients) and a hodge-podge of internships, including spells at Ingram's (Kansas City's business magazine), American Spa magazine (where she was Chief Hot-Tub Correspondent), and the tweens' quiz bible, QuizFest, in NYC.

As Editorial Operations Director, a role she took on in January 2015, Sarah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the non-news content elements on Light Reading.

Sarah received her Bachelor's in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Chicago with her 3DTV, her iPad and a drawer full of smartphone cords.

Away from the world of telecom journalism, Sarah likes to dabble in monster truck racing, becoming part of Team Bigfoot in 2009.

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