Telefónica Germany, the largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers, has selected Ericsson's IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) solution for its VoLTE deployment across all of its 4G LTE coverage areas. Telefonica is expected to launch the VoLTE service to its customers once the company has secured the full VoLTE device eco-system for mass-market launch.
Ericsson will provide its range of IMS products, including CSCF (Call Session Control Function), MTAS (Multimedia Telephony Application Server), MRS (Media Resource System) and System Integration Services for Telefónica's multivendor network.
Ericsson's IMS solution will enable Telefonica subscribers to enjoy HD voice call quality with simultaneous data usage on 4G LTE. The solution will serve as a common IMS core network for mobile and fixed sevices, providing converged high-quality multimedia services such as video calling, video conferencing and collaboration services.
According to a statement by Ericsson, Telefónica is one of the first operators in Europe that has now completed the upgrade of their network to be ready for commercial VoLTE launch. In addition, Ericsson's SRVCC (Single Radio Voice Call Continuity) functionality enables seamless handover of ongoing voice calls from LTE to circuit-switched 3G and 2G networks.
Karsten Schroumlder, Head of Converged Solutions, Telefónica Germany
When we started six years ago with the investment into IMS to deliver DSL voice services, we laid the seed for a strategic modernization of our core service architecture. With the advent of VoLTE, we were able to harvest the fruits by re-using the very same IMS core for our mobile customers, being the first operator proving that VoLTE is not just a standard, but can be used in a real-life multi-vendor environment. As a result, the convergent architecture allows us today to deliver seamless services agnostic to the physical access by which the customer is connected to our network.
Anders Lindblad, Head of Business Unit Cloud and IP, Ericsson
We are delighted that Telefónica has selected us as their partner to become one of Europe's very first operators to launch VoLTE. Based on our IMS solution Telefónica is now able to provide a modern communications experience for their users on the latest LTE smartphones. In the future they will also be able to cost-efficiently launch video communication and other new multimedia services on any accesses and any devices over their converged network.
