General8.02.2013

GSA confirms choice of HD voice mobile phones leapt 120% in 12 months

GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) today confirms the rapidly growing choice of HD voice phones for use on GSM, 3G/HSPA and LTE mobile networks.

According to its latest research, 160 products have been announced in the market, which is 120% more than a year ago. These devices have been launched by 16 manufacturers, and include the most popular brands as well as products for broadcasters and other professional users.

Mobile HD voice uses Adaptive Multi Rate Wideband technology (W-AMR, standardized by 3GPP), enabling high-quality voice calls in supporting mobile networks and an improved user experience. It provides significantly higher voice quality for calls between mobile phones supporting the feature, and is market reality today in GSM, WCDMA-UMTS, and LTE networks worldwide.

Alan Hadden, President of GSA, said: “Investment in mobile network support and devices for HD voice is a worldwide trend and will accelerate in 2013. All manufacturers are urged to ship their feature phones and smartphones with W-AMR activated by default.”

A related report from GSA last month confirmed 61 mobile networks have launched HD voice services, which is 55% higher than a year ago. HD voice services are now commercially available on mobile networks in 45 countries.

There is a strong business case for Mobile HD voice. Customers make more, and longer, calls with HD voice, and highly value the service. HD voice helps operators to clearly differentiate their offerings and enable high quality services to voice dependent business like call center services, information services, emergency services, etc. HD voice is also ideal for conference calls and can contribute to a reduction in business travel and raise productivity while reducing the environmental impact. Calls which are easier to hear and understand reduce the fatigue typically associated with long conference calls.

The maximum benefits from using HD voice on an HD voice-capable mobile network are realized or perceived when both calling and called parties use HD voice-capable phones. Improvements in call quality are also often observed even when calling a non-HD voice phone, due to improvements in the acoustic performance and advanced noise reduction capabilities which are present in most HD voice phones.

Log in to the GSA website www.gsacom.com to download the complete list of HD voice-compatible devices by following the link: “List of 160 HD voice (W-AMR) mobile phones and their suppliers – includes VoLTE devices”

Not yet a registered GSA website user? it only takes a minute to sign up at www.gsacom.com/php/register_form

 

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