South African Operator, Vodacom has commercially launched its WiFi-calling service. This follows the first commercial Voice-over WiFi (VoWiFi) call in South Africa made by the company on its network in early June this year. VoWiFi differs from other applications that allow voice calling over a data network, in that it uses the built-in voice dialling feature of the phone and thus uses the subscriber's existing phone number for making calls.
April this year, Vodacom became the first mobile operator in South Africa to launch voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) service which comes with faster call connection times as well as high definition call quality. Just like VoWiFi calling, VoLTE too uses native dialing on the phone and does not need a third party app.
Vodacom's VoWiFi service however will be limited to only one device initially, Samsung Galaxy S6, with the Operator working with Samsung to send out software updates to its other subscribers once the final testing is completed.
According to Vodacom, calls made over a WiFi network will be billed using existing minutes. The new service is expected to improve network coverage especially inside office blocks and in the basement of shopping centres.
Vodacom’s CTO Andries Delport
Our network team works hard to ensure we're always one-step ahead and leading the adaption of new mobile technology. This was the case with Voice over LTE (VoLTE), which we launched earlier this year, as well as when we first launched our LTE/4G network in 2012. Voice over WiFi is the next step in ensuring the best quality voice calls for our customers. Aside from seamless call quality there are a number of consumer benefits that come with WiFi calling. One of the most significant is the ability to make a call using your cellphone number with no need for additional apps.
