Verizon (VZ), Ericsson (ERIC), Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), Samsung Pushing VoLTE

Verizon (NYSE:VZ), Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC), Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU), Samsung were all seen pushing VoLTE at Mobile World Congress; doesn't look good for VoLGA.

With Verizon Wireless outlining an aggressive plan to implement the Voice over LTE (VoLTE) platform, the last momentum behind an alternative approach, VoLGA, seems to have died. The main carrier backer of VoLGA, T-Mobile, says it will stop pushing the technology, which it had presented as a simpler route to supporting voice on 4G networks than VoLTE, which is based on IMS.

VoLGA was conceived as a middle road between full IMS-based voice and the 3GPP's more basic solution of falling back to circuit switched networks. It ran circuit switched voice over packet networks using a gateway system developed by Kineto Wireless. But in an interview with Light Reading Mobile, (http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=204581&) Olivier Baujard - CTO of TMo's parent firm Deutsche Telekom - said: "We have not created with VoLGA the traction we wanted or hoped. We will implement the IMS-based solution, with CSFB ."

Verizon and its key vendors, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent, plus LG and Samsung, were among those demonstrating VoLTE at Mobile World Congress. The GSM Association, which backs the platform, will run an interoperability test event in September, hosted by Vodafone and China Mobile at their respective testing centers in Dusseldorf and Beijing.

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