Verizon’s First LTE-Only Calling Phones To Drop By 2016

Big Red may boast about having the biggest LTE network in the country but its voice calls are still routed through the old 3G network. As the carrier works on expanding voice over LTE its ultimate goal is to have LTE-only calling phones on the network. Verizon expects the first such devices to hit the network by 2016, this was revealed by Fran Shammo, the chief financial officer at Verizon, today at an investor conference on Wall Street.

Shammo revealed that Verizon has plans to allow voice over LTE by the end of this year. Not only will it provide features like a cloud based address book for contacts but users will also experience better call audio quality.

However the voice over LTE network will not be established enough at the start to run on its own so Verizon would have to rely upon its existing 3G network to ensure that subscribers continue to receive reception. Once the network is established Verizon will move over exclusively to the 4G LTE network.

When asked if Verizon would ensure that its voice over LTE service works with other U.S. carriers, Shammo declined to comment, but did add that first the technology would need to mature before carriers can work together on this.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: 4g lte, Verizon