National and International Trade
Since the beginning of time people have been involved in trade, which involves the transfer of goods or services from one person to another. First locally, and later across borders. International trade of goods and services has taken place throughout history with classical examples such as the ‘Salt Road’, ‘Amber Road’, and ‘Silk Road’. In the Telecoms Industry, trading minutes is commonplace, especially across borders, where international communication has become an indispensable part of our everyday life.
Moving to VoLTE to the International Arena
As described by Adam Smith in his book “Wealth of Nations” merchants looked for an “absolute advantage” by learning to exploit their domestic strengths in the search of new economic opportunities. VoLTE, Voice over 4G, is as domestic strengths that Carriers are bringing from the national stage to the international voice market in order to find new opportunity in this highly competitive market. iBasis is proud to be a frontrunner, together with partner SK Telink, servicing the international VoLTE of MNO’s KPN Mobile and SK Telecom.
Today more than 100 domestic VoLTE Networks around the world are operational. A few of these are nationally interconnected, e.g. in South Korea, USA, Kuwait and China. Mobile operators in these countries provide their local subscribers with VoLTE’s high quality clear voice experience and fast data access across the domestic footprint. However, these national networks are like walled gardens with no actual connection to the broader world beyond the domestic borders, thus limiting the customer’s experience to their home market.
Milestone in VoLTE Interworking
Together with South Korean partner SK Telink, iBasis recently achieved a milestone in VoLTE interworking. As of May 2017 live VoLTE traffic began between mobile carriers, KPN in the Netherlands and SK Telecom in South Korea. The connection between these two domestic mobile carriers was facilitated by the IP networks of iBasis and SK Telink. The first international end-to-end VoLTE traffic! With a concerted, effort the KPN Mobile and SK Telecom subscribers are now able to call each other with a crystal-clear voice quality across boundaries, operators and borders.
With this breakthrough the march toward international VoLTE commercialization is also moving forward. High-quality voice service encourages usage on the mobile network, deterring users from seeking alternatives. Combined with global availability, they can become key competitive advantages for mobile network operators.
iBasis and SK Telink Take the Lead
iBasis and SK Telink are providing the IPX interconnectivity between the mobile networks of KPN and SK Telecom. The iBasis IPX is a single multi-service IP interconnect service to interconnect operators on a global scale with guaranteed quality and security, and offering mobile operators high-quality routes, redundancy, and diversity.
So, besides national VoLTE, we are proud to now expand the horizon with international VoLTE. If you are interested in learning more please contact Kees Hol, Product Manager for VoLTE at iBasis khol@ibasis.net.
Complete the form below to request a copy of the recent International VoLTE Interworking presentation.
[contact-form-7 id=”4265″ title=”Presentation Download Request VoLTE2″]