From tomorrow, owners of the newly launched Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge will be able to make voice calls over Vodacom’s 4G/LTE network. According to the cellular provider, this is a commercial first in South Africa, with Voice over LTE (VoLTE) set to provide users with faster call set up times (the amount of time it takes between dialling a number and the phone ringing at the recipient’s end) and better voice quality. There are also additional capabilities such as being able to continue browsing the web or using apps while simultaneously making a call.

VoLTE technology, which enables mobile voice traffic to be carried natively over a data network, was originally demonstrated by Vodacom in September last year. However, up until today the service has been limited by a lack of compatible devices.

Andries Delport, Vodacom’s chief technology officer noted: “Within the next month VoLTE functionality will be added to additional devices, and we expect usage will grow rapidly as more and more handset manufacturers include the functionality."

At present the VoLTE service is available to contract customers who have compatible handsets. There is no additional charge to use this service, however customers with compatible handsets will need to run a software update to enable the service. The update will be available from tomorrow.

The launch of VoLTE follows on from Vodacom’s roll-out of Enhanced Voice service last year. Available country-wide, Enhanced Voice is comprised of HD voice which increases the clarity of voice calls, Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) which removes the echo that sometimes occurs when making calls, and Noise Reduction (NR) technology which eliminates background noise. According to Vodacom, HD voice is supported by the majority of smart devices while AEC and NR technology is in use by every device on the network.

“The implementation of Enhanced Voice last September signalled a step change in call quality for South Africa. Moving forward our next milestone is to include video calling and media sharing as part of the VoLTE service,” concludes Delport.