Vodafone launches 4G voice services
VODAFONE Zambia will in the next three months launch 4G voice services for its customers following its newly acquired licence from the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA).
And the company has clarified that it did not apply for a traditional voice licence to become the fourth mobile service provider because its mission was to only provide data related services.
Speaking during the launch of the ‘Vodafone Calling’ yesterday in Lusaka, company chief executive officer, Lars Stork, explained that customers would be able to make voice calls using data.
Mr. Stork said the services called the Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLET) would be the next generation technology for transporting voice traffic as an IP data stream in Long Term Evolution (LTE). “We are convinced that 4G data and 4G voice is the future of how we communicate,
“Today our LTE network is solely used for data traffic, however our vision and strategy is to offer the best in class data and now also voice over data on our 4G network,” he said.
Mr Stork said the 4G LTE offered significant opportunities for a superior and seamless user experience of voice integrated.
He said according to London based market research and consulting firm, Hot Telecom, global VoLET users are expected to grow to 2.3 billion by 2020.
Mr Stork said Vodafone would continue to invest in their network to allow greater access to their services.
Meanwhile, Mr Stork explained that his company did not bid to become a fourth mobile service provider because its core value was centred on only providing data swerves.
“We did not apply for traditional voice licence because we are not interested. Our focus is to provide high quality data services,” Mr. Stork said.