SingTel introduces new 4G voice services

SingTel introduces new 4G voice services

SingTel has partnered Samsung and Ericsson to offer its Voice over LTE service suite, which touts faster call connection and clearer sound quality.

SINGAPORE: SingTel has partnered Samsung and Ericsson to offer its full-featured Voice over LTE (VoLTE) suite of services, named 4G ClearVoice, which it claims is the world's first.

In a statement issued today (May 19), the local telco said its VoLTE service will offer a suite of telephony services such as call waiting and forwarding in addition to making voice calls - all on its 4G network. A company spokesperson said while other telecom operators may have introduced VoLTE services, these are not as comprehensive as the one SingTel has unveiled.

4G ClearVoice will be made available to existing Samsung Galaxy Note 3 users first via a software update, which the telco said would be pushed out progressively between May 31 and June 1. Customers who buy new Galaxy Note 3 devices from May 31 will have the feature pre-installed, it said.

The service is available at no extra cost for SingTel's postpaid customers.

"Customers will enjoy the flexibility of making calls and using ultra high speed 4G mobile data services at the same time," Johan Buse, president of consumer marketing at SingTel, said in the statement.

VoLTE users will get to enjoy faster call connection services - in less than 2 seconds - and clearer voice quality compared with conventional mobile voice services, SingTel said.

While there are existing voice services delivered over mobile networks such as Microsoft's Skype, the company spokesperson said 4G ClearVoice boasts "carrier-grade" assurance in terms of reliability and quality.

He added the software update to enable SingTel's VoLTE service will be pushed out to other "popular handsets in the coming months", but did not specify a time frame.

- CNA/kk

- wong chee tat :)