Sprint
announced a
HD voice handset – the HTC Evo – last week, the first time the technology
has gotten any real attention in the US, especially from mainstream media
outlets like Time
and Consumer
Reports.
Plus,
ABI
Research predicts that both Verizon and MetroPCS will soon bring HD voice
(and VoLTE) handsets to market as well, as most US operators will apparently
tie HD voice rollout tightly to the introduction of VoLTE.
So
is HD voice finally taking off in the US, where it has lagged? Jim Eller at ABI
thinks so:
“The
demand for HD Voice in VoLTE phones will provide the critical mass necessary to
encourage the device manufacturers to produce large quantities of phone models
with HD Voice, which should lead to widespread adoption.”
We
asked this same question on Twitter and got this (cleaned up) response from HD
Voice guru Doug Mohney of HD Voice News:
“2012
year of HD voice? For North America, maybe 2013. Europe's year of HD voice is
now.”
And
lest we forget why HD voice has the potential to add such value to operator
offerings, here is a 2011 clip from Orange, a pioneer that rolled out HD voice
in the UK way back in 2010 and currently runs
about one-third of all HD voice networks:
While HD voice may be tied to VoLTE rollouts in the US, let’s not forget that HD voice was developed to run on 3G networks, with Orange even looking at extending the service to 2G customers. There are more than 39 HD voice networks in 31 countries, and Orange is pushing for even tighter integration – interoperability between Orange countries and between operators. Let’s not get distracted by the US timetables. Mohney is right. 2012 is the year for HD voice for Europe, at the very least.
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