Carriers reveal features utilizing VoLTE service

The nation’s top service providers are rolling out features to take advantage of VoLTE, the advanced voice calling service that will be standard in Korea by November.

Short for Voice over Long Term Evolution, VoLTE uses the bandwidth on 4G LTE wireless networks to improve call quality and allow for faster voice and video connections.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced all LTE customers will be able to take advantage of the service, regardless of which carrier they use, which will be first in the world.

Until now, smartphone users enjoyed LTE voice calls only when talking with friends using the same carrier.

On Thursday, the nation’s providers revealed services that will take advantage of the improved connection speed.

SK Telecom, the No. 1 telecommunications company, will launch a service allowing users to receive incoming calls on laptops, PCs and other internet-enabled devices.

“[The technology] will let users receive phone calls even if they left their phones somewhere else,” said Oh Dong-jin, a manager at SK Telecom.

He went on to explain such services are hard to provide on a 3G network due to “limitations associated with connectivity.”

Second-place KT will focus on providing a service that enables users to surf the web and exchange photos while making VoLTE calls.

The service, called Olleh Popup, can also maintain a user’s display instead of switching to a different frame with an incoming call.

The feature is provided for free but available only on Android-run smartphones.

LG U+ said that it will enhance its LTE call service by incorporating voice codec control to offer crisper call quality.

The third largest carrier also reiterated that it has partnered with foreign companies to allow its subscribers to use VoLTE service while roaming overseas.

The Science Ministry said Wednesday that the government will begin trial services at the end of this month and introduce the service at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2015 scheduled for next month.

Official commercialization in Korea begins in August, and all customers will be covered by November.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]