Turkey’s leading telecommunications and technology company, has announced that it has tested enriched VoLTE in its 4G testing area in Istanbul as the operator prepares for its 4G rollout this year, partnering with Ericsson. The operator did not provide further details of the testing and how the enriched VoLTE service is different than the standard VoLTE service.
Turkcell claims that the lab test makes them the first and only Turkish operator to test Enriched VoLTE, and one of the few international technology companies to have done so. Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Agency is expected to hold the 4G LTE auction on May 26th, with a condition that requires operators to launch the service by the end of this year.
In the run up to 4G rollout and the service launch, Turkcell has started a number of internal testing, including carrier aggregation testing on the 4G LTE. Turkcell said that it has achieved a 450 Mbps LTE-A data speed on a single device with carrier aggregation technology in an internal testing.
Ilker Kuruoz, CTO, Turkcell
We look forward to introducing the latest LTE technology to our customers in Turkey as we roll out 4G services. As a part of this effort, we have joined forces with our partners to test Enriched VoLTE, making Turkcell one of the few technology companies to do so on a global scale. Our goal is to be among the first operators to offer enriched VoLTE so that Turkcell customers can be among the first users of this technology in the world.
Ziya Erdem, General Manager, Ericsson Turkey
Ericsson continues to develop innovative technologies that enable not only data services, but also more developed voice services on 4G. We are proud to have tested these technologies in Turkey for the first time, becoming one of the pioneers in the industry. Our aim is to consistently improve the end-consumer experience in cooperation with our partner Turkcell. We are also contributing to the transformation of smartphones to enable the use of VoLTE and Enriched VoLTE.
