Last week, I was in Amsterdam as a speaker/analyst at the LTE world series in Amsterdam which is a top Telecoms conference especially for the Operator community. LTE is about ‘Beyond 3G’ networks and that’s an area with lots of standardization discussions (see here and here). At Amsterdam, there were two relevant themes for TalkStandards. I will cover one here (Voice standardization in 4G networks) and I will create a separate post for the other (IPR issues for 4G networks).

There is an informal joke in Telecoms circles which goes like this: When we created 3G we forgot about data, when we created 4G we forgot about voice!

Soundbites aside, this is a profound statement and reflects how rapidly Telecoms has transformed in just a few years.

3G standardization and deployment took place in late 1990s and early 2000s. At that time, Telecoms was dominated by voice. Now, for most Operators, data is the primary source of revenue (if you include Mobile Broadband). However, with data comes another change. Historically, Telecoms standards were non IP (Internet protocol). Now IP dominates, which means Telecoms are having to adopt IP as well. Adoption of IP byTelecoms is a big issue since the historical protocols (pre IP) have prevailed for many years. The systems built on these standards were developed for national Telecoms operators. Interoperability was based on ‘roaming agreements’. Roaming agreements have a cost and hence a business model. Now, into this comes IP. IP does not respect national boundaries and hence national roaming agreements.

Now the question is: What happens to Voice when ALL voice becomes VOIP (Voice over IP)?

To create IP level interoperability for VOIP, all operators have to upgrade to IP simultaneously.

This takes time and is no mean feat.

So, failing that, there are two options: Either, we use a service like Skype which is already rooted into IP OR we use an interim standard which is proprietary but solves a problem until all operators upgrade to IP.

From a telecoms perspective, there is a desire to create a ‘telecoms based’ IP standard for Voice (as opposed to systems from Web players like Skype) but an interim solution is needed to overcome the problems outlined before (ie. all operators must upgrade to IP).

Last year, an interim solution called VoLGA (Voice over LTE using Generic Access) was proposed by a few Operators. It was pragmatic because it relied on an existing standard called Generic Access Network (GAN) to transport voice via IP to the switched mobile core supporting 2G and 3G networks.

However, in Feb 2010 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and again last week at the LTE event in Amsterdam, the GSMA (the industry body for Telecoms Operators) mandated a standard called VoLTE (voice over LTE). While there are some advantages to VoLTE in the long term, it needs all Operators to upgrade to IP (through IMS).

What does it mean from a standards perspective?

• In practice, many Operators are skeptical and are hedging their bets for instance Telefonica’s acquisition of Jajah (a VOIP provider).
• A company (Skype) may offer the best solution for global IP interconnection. It is however not a standard but customers continue to adopt it in large numbers.
• The interim (semi proprietary) standard (VoLGA) was pragmatic but seems to have lost momentum.
• The ‘real’ standard VoLTE may take too long to be practical (i.e. customers and Operators may adopt VOIP in other ways such as Telefonica – Jajah).

Thus, the interim standard VoLGA while not perfect may have served a pragmatic purpose and today the VoLGA flows in mysterious ways – if it does at all! On the long run, this may be a loss for Telecoms.