LTE Now Ready for Use With Voice and Video Telephony

VIENNA, October 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

New LTE mobile telephony standard to launch eSRVCC soon. T-Mobile, Huawei and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. have executed a new technology trial enabling a voice handover from LTE to 3G without any perceivable interruption for the user.

The new LTE mobile data transfer standard can now be used for seamless handover of voice calls and video telephony from LTE to legacy 3G/UMTS networks. As LTE network coverage is still restricted at this early stage, new technology had to be developed to enable users to switch seamlessly from LTE back to existing 3G/UMTS networks during the course of a call without any perceived interruptions. Until now, this had proved impossible, presenting network operators piloting LTE technology throughout Europe with a major challenge. T-Mobile Austria and Huawei, working with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, have now demonstrated voice call continuity from LTE to 3G/UMTS network following the 3GPP Rel. 10 standard.

In the future, users throughout Europe will be able to switch from LTE to standard mobile telephone networks without any noticeable interruptions. This now means that nothing stands in the way of a changeover to LTE voice-enabled mobile telephones and other state-of-the-art handsets for users across the continent.

The advantages of this new Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology include crystal clear call quality as well as generally faster connection speeds. The new technology and only solution of its kind in Europe was unveiled at the T-Mobile Austria and Huawei Innovation Center in Vienna on Friday, October 12, 2012.

LTE - from data to voice standard

The solution introduced by T-Mobile Austria and Huawei will make exceptionally high quality calls using LTE technology a reality. The changeover process from LTE to an alternative network is now completely seamless, with the moment of the switch not discernible to the caller - a step forward that had been unattainable, until now. Thanks to state-of-the art network switching technology from Huawei and VoLTE test mobile phones based on Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 processor MSM8960 chipset, the breakthrough guarantees a smooth changeover to Voice over LTE for mobile network operators across Europe.

This achievement represents a significant milestone in the introduction of voice calls via LTE in Europe. This underlines T-Mobile's position as innovation leader in the Austrian market.

T-Mobile Austria CTO Rüdiger Köster explained: "Our successful pilot project showed that not only rapid data transfer, but also Voice over LTE technology is ready for wide spread commercial use. Huawei and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. clearly proved their credentials and demonstrated their problem-solving expertise during the course of the venture with T-Mobile."

Daniel Zhou, CEO of Huawei Austria added: "This unique solution has enabled us to eliminate a number of previously insurmountable technical problems. Now that we have found a way to seamlessly switch to standard mobile telephone networks during the course of an active call, operators can rapidly move over to LTE technology while assuring continued customer satisfaction throughout Europe. The successful project with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and T-Mobile Austria means that Voice over LTE has proven the readiness of this leading edge technology."

Huawei's Voice over LTE solution was recently crowned the Best New LTE Product Launch and was one of the highlights of the 9th annual IMS World Forum in Madrid this year.

Press pictures to download: http://www.apa-fotoservice.at/galerie/3502

About Huawei

Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, serving 45 of the world's top 50 telecoms operators. Through our dedication to customer-centric innovation and strong partnerships, we have established end-to-end advantages in telecom networks, devices and cloud computing. We are committed to creating maximum value for telecom operators, enterprises and consumers by providing competitive solutions and services. Our products and solutions have been deployed in over 140 countries, serving more than one third of the world's population. In 2011 Huawei recorded sales revenues of USD $32.4 billion. Huawei began operations in Europe in 2000. Since then the company has extensively deployed Huawei products and solutions across the region and now has over 7,300 staff based in Europe, more than 780 of them dedicated to Research and Development. Huawei now cooperates closely with operators all over Europe, including British Telecom in the UK, Deutsche Telecom in Germany, France Telecom/Orange in France and Telecom Italia in Italy, to name a few. For more information, visit Huawei online:  http://www.huawei.com. Follow us on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/huaweipress and on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/HuaweiPress.

About T-Mobile Austria

T-Mobile Austria has 4.06 million customers and is the second biggest mobile operator in Austria. The company is known for driving innovation in the Telco Business. Both brands "T-Mobile" and "tele.ring" address two different target groups: T-Mobile lives by the slogan "Life is for sharing" and offers innovation in regards to smartphones, services and applications. The brand tele.ring is the successful "value for price"-leader on the Austrian telecommunication market.

In 2011 T-Mobile invested around € 100 million in the network with a specific focus on the roll out of HSPA+ and the next generation mobile network LTE. T-Mobile Austria has 1.400 employees. In 2011 the company was awarded as one of the most attractive employers in Austria from Aon Hewitt. T-Mobile's headquarter the T-Center is based in Vienna on the Rennweg near the "Südost-Tangente". Next to 48 T-Mobile shops T-Mobile also has sales offices in Salzburg, Innsbruck, Graz and Klagenfurt. T-Mobile Austria is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG and hence, belongs to one of the world's leading companies in telecommunications. The company's international outlook allows T-Mobile customers to benefit from a wide range of products and services, both at home and abroad.

Contact:

Huawei Technologies Austria GmbH
Catharina Rieder
T: +43-676-628-90-18
E: press.austria@huawei.com
W: http://www.huawei.com

T-Mobile Austria
Barbara Holzbauer
T: +43-676-8200-6017
E: barbara.holzbauer@t-mobile.at
W: http://www.t-mobile.at