Is it the Right Time for Airtel to Launch VoLTE?

It is the year Voice over LTE (VoLTE) finally picked up in India and is further likely to gather momentum as the year comes to an end.

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Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio launched VoLTE-powered 4G services last year. It was on the back of VoLTE capability that Jio was able to offer free voice calling for life to its subscribers. VoLTE allows voice calling at a fraction of the cost when compared with the cost of calling using the traditional network. The service provider now has more than 125 million subscribers. Recently, Airtel, India’s largest service provider launched VoLTE services in the circles of Mumbai, Goa and Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

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VoLTE will allow Airtel to provide high definition voice services at much lesser cost. More importantly, it will enable the company to fight competition from Over-the-top players, like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, who offer free voice calling facility.

But is it the right time to launch VoLTE services for Airtel or is it already too late for the service provider?

Airtel is preparing to phase out its 3G services in the next two years and move all its subscribers to the 4G network. This will help the service provider to enhance the quality of experience and reduce its network management cost at the same time. The launch of VoLTE services is a step in this direction. As the company expands VoLTE across the country, it will be able to reduce its expenditure and offer better voice quality to its subscribers.