MetroPCS pips SKT to VoLTE post
US prepaid operator trumps Korean counterpart's claims to be world's first VoLTE carrier, offering service on LG Connect
Published: 8 August, 2012
We might have been chiding the US carriers for falling behind their Korean counterparts in voice over LTE, but MetroPCS now claims it switched on its own service a day ahead of SKT, which had claimed the laurels.
The Korean cellco announced early this week that it would be selling a VoLTE smartphone and service from Wednesday, but now MetroPCS has piped up to say its own service went live on Tuesday. The prepaid operator is maintaining its reputation for pipping the world's largest LTE operator, Verizon Wireless, to the post - it offered its first LTE devices ahead of its larger rival, and Verizon does not expect to turn on 4G voice until next year.
MetroPCS's first VoLTE smartphone will be the Android LG Connect, while SKT has launched with the Samsung Galaxy S III. The third largest Korean cellco, LG U+, will also offer VoLTE from this week, at least in the capital Seoul, debuting with the LG Optimus LTE2 model. KT will join its rivals in October.
MetroPCS said it would "continue to roll out VoLTE services and phones in the coming weeks", while recent job adverts from T-Mobile USA suggested it might add voice to its 4G networks at an early stage, once it switches on LTE next year.
Like SKT, MetroPCS said its VoLTE roll-out would be the foundation of a broader set of IP-based services using the RCS (Rich Communication Services) platform, which can support added value real time options such as multimedia messaging and videoconferencing.
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