AMSTERDAM -- LTE World Summit 2011 -- Long Term Evolution (LTE) pioneer Telia Company has taken a stand on over-the-top voice-over-IP (VoIP) services and pledged that they will not come for free on its 4G network.

Tommy Ljunggren, VP of system development for mobility services at TeliaSonera, made the comments during his keynote address here at the LTE World Summit in Amsterdam.

"We will not offer VoIP for free," said Ljunggren. "You can have VoIP, but you'll have to pay for it somehow."

TeliaSonera hasn't worked out yet how its customers will pay for these services. It could be by paying more for a better service tier for which TeliaSonera will guarantee quality of service (QoS) levels for VoIP, for example.

VoIP is "excluded" from TeliaSonera's 4G service for now, just as it is on its 3G networks. The operator either blocks or throttles VoIP over its 3G networks, according to Ljunggren.

But if customers pay for it, then the operator is prepared to open these services up to them.

Why this matters
This is one of the first times a mobile operator has come out and said what it wants to do about OTT VoIP over LTE networks. Even though TeliaSonera's plans are not yet clear, Ljunggren's comments hint at new mobile broadband pricing strategies for LTE.

For more
TeliaSonera is a pioneering LTE operator, and the Swedish market is one of the most competitive 4G markets in the world.

• Swedish LTE Challengers Wield Unlimited Offers
• LTE Showdown in Sweden
• TeliaSonera v. Tele2
• TeliaSonera on LTE: Just Do It!
• TeliaSonera Limits P2P Over LTE
• TeliaSonera Shares Verizon's LTE Tablet Desire
• TeliaSonera Tips Hat to Mobile Data Caps
• TeliaSonera Develops New Mobile Data Model
• TeliaSonera Prices First LTE Offer
• TeliaSonera Blazes LTE Trail of Tiers

— Michelle Donegan, European Editor, Light Reading Mobile