Carriers enable VoLTE interworking for KPN and SK Telecom
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Carriers enable VoLTE interworking for KPN and SK Telecom

Carriers owned by SK Telecom and KPN have shared live commercial international voice over LTE (VoLTE) over their multiservice IPX networks for the first time.

Both mobile operators – in South Korea and the Netherlands respectively – said they were using the services to deliver high-definition, low-latency, crystal-clear voice services internationally to their 4G LTE consumers.

KPN’s iBasis and SK Telink, the wholesale partners involved, said they are preparing for a further smooth commercial rollout of VoLTE interworking to their subscribers in South Korea and the Netherlands.

South Korea was the first country to launch national VoLTE in 2012 while KPN launched its national VoLTE service in 2016.

“There is no room for error when it comes to high quality voice calls,” said Wonyoung Yun, CEO of SK Telink. “Like us, KPN and iBasis equally share a strong quality and innovation focus on VoLTE. In our position as pioneer with the ability to lead with new technology, we have leveraged the extensive experience of iBasis in voice-over-IP, HD voice and global IP deployments.”

Feddo Hazewindus, CEO of iBasis, said: “We are extremely pleased to have joined forces with SK Telink to establish the first international VoLTE interworking connection for South Korea, one of the highest penetrated LTE Mobile countries worldwide and pioneer in VoLTE adoption and innovation.”

Yun said the close collaboration “will help operators improve speed and efficiency in their international deployment phase and create new value for customers”.

Hazewindus added: “The strong engineering and operational collaboration between SK Telink and iBasis teams has managed to solve multiple implementation challenges which are critical for performing and maintaining high quality VoLTE services globally and we are proud to have established this milestone together.”

In addition to VoLTE interworking, the iBasis VoLTE solution also supports VoLTE roaming and both local breakout and home routing.

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