South Korea’s three leading mobile operators -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- have finalized the interconnect agreement for commercialization of inter-operator VoLTE service, allowing customers of all three operators to make VoLTE calls to subscribers in other networks, Business Korea reported. The final agreement materialized after talks on inter-operator service fees and a payment system that started since 2012. The operators held a joint demonstration of the service with the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning earlier this month.
SK Telecom and LG Uplus were the first to launch the VoLTE service in 2012, before KT, the second largest carrier, introduced the service later that year.
In 2012, the Korean government set up the ‘VoLTE Inter-working Technology Consultation Group' to provide the technical standards and specifications for the service. The group was participated by the three operators as well as research institutes - the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) and the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA).
