Voice over LTE models challenge vendors/operators

The impending LTE rollout is creating questions about how voice will be handled, and the answer may have a big impact on the fortunes of vendors. There are three basic approaches being proposed by some operators: IMS/VoIP, using the 2/3G network for voice and 4G for data only (multimodal handsets), and a circuit-over-IP architecture called Voice over LTE via Generic Access(VoLGA).

Obviously the IMS approach would favor the big telecom equipment vendors while the others might admit a broader range of bidders. We’ve heard many operators voting for the fallback-to-3G approach because it would make handset transition easier since current smartphones could continue to operate on the current network, but there are potentially spectrum and cell issues to be resolved.