Idea to start VoLTE services from 1 March

Idea Cellular, India's third-largest telecom operator, is launching its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services for employees in select markets, starting 1 March2018.

Idea's VoLTE services will be launched in over 30 cities across four circles including the key cities of Kochi, Trivandrum, Calicut, Pune, Goa, Nashik, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Hyderabad among others in the first half of the month.

Idea plans to cover all 20 4G circles with VoLTE services by the end of April, the company said in a statement.

Initially, the service will be available for employees, to experience Idea VoLTE which will offer ultra High Definition call quality as compared to a standard voice call. Idea VoLTE services on the high speed 4G network will enable users to simultaneously have un-interrupted internet experience while using voice service.

Users will be able to call all mobile and landline networks using Idea's VoLTE service. It will allow users to automatically be routed to 3G and 2G when they move out of 4G network while on the call using Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC) technology, thus ensuring continuous call connectivity.

Idea VoLTE will be accessible on 4G handsets powered by Idea 4G SIM. Idea is partnering with several handset manufacturers to ensure availability of Idea VoLTE capable devices in the market, prior to the commercial launch.

Huawei has already released Over the Air (OTA) update for select devices, while One Plus and Xiaomi will be releasing it soon, enabling their users to experience Idea VoLTE.

In the first phase of the launch, Idea's VoLTE services will be rolled out in four circles in the first half of March 2018, namely Maharashtra & Goa, Kerala, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh & Telangana. Commercial services will be launched progressively, on a circle by circle basis.

Idea Cellular, an Aditya Birla Group Company, has nearly 200 million subscribers, and traffic in excess of 2.5 billion minutes a day.