Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) is a viable solution for African communications given there are 800 million mobile subscribers on the continent, according to Mohamed Abo Alam, global strategist for Samsung in South Korea.
Alam told the LTE Africa conference in Cape Town both South Korea and Japan had experienced a decline in the subscriber base for 3G, whereas LTE was recording a significant increase.
“It is very interesting to note that you don’t necessarily have to go out and buy an expensive smartphone,” he said. In the near future VoLTE will be accessible through feature phones, which Alam believes is relevant to Africa.
“We’ve been very active globally. Africa is a very important area for us,” said Alam.
He said VoLTE is “the foundation of a lot of what will come in the future”. Through VoLTE, Alam said voice has now become a software component as opposed to being a hardware component.
Alam said VoLTE in Seoul, South Korea, was first optimised and commercialised last year in August. He said VoLTE call setup time is significantly shorter as opposed to VoIP. It also allows for “one touch” switch over from a voice call to a video call.
