Germany’s T-Mobile, or Deutsche Telekom, has made the first voice call over LTE using VoLGA technology.

The Voice over LTE via Generic Access specification was developed to provide operators an alternative to CS Fallback. VoLGA supporters argue Circuit Switch Fallback is an inadequate solution to handle voice over LTE networks, despite the technology’s backing from the 3GPP.

“The VoLGA test shows how operators could quickly and easily provide next-generation voice services, re-using their existing core networks,” said Uwe Janssen, senior vice president of core networks at Deutsche Telekom, in a press release. “At the same time, this serves as a first step to prepare networks for the industry-agreed mid- and long-term solution for voice over LTE that will be based on IMS.”

The test marks a vote of confidence on the part of Deutsche Telekom that it intends to move ahead with the controversial technology, which is not supported by the 3GPP standards body. So far, Deutsche Telekom is the only operator to openly support VoLGA.

The calls were made between a test system installed at Deutsche Telekom Headquarters in Bonn, Germany, based on a VoLGA implementation of Kineto Wireless and an independent system from Alcatel-Lucent, installed in their test center in Stuttgart, Germany. Both VoLGA-based Voice over LTE systems support inbound and outbound voice calling and SMS messaging between LTE-enabled devices and standard mobile and fixed telephones.

“Voice calling is an essential service for mobile operators. This demonstration is a key milestone towards establishing a future-proof ecosystem and shows a cost efficient way for using voice over LTE”, Janssen said.

VoLGA is purported to be a long-term interim solution before carriers migrate to IMS as a permanent method of handling voice over LTE networks. The alternative interim technology, CS Fallback, routes calls over legacy networks.

In a white paper commissioned by VoLGA supporter Kineto Wireless, analyst Dean Bubley called CS Fallback “dying if not already dead.”

“Charting a course on LTE, without understanding exactly when IMS telephony will arrive or how much it will cost, and without a viable alternative, is quite risky,” he said. “VoLGA supports all the standard mobile telephony capabilities in Deutsche Telekom’s network today, as well as all the value-added intelligent network capabilities like prepaid, local number portability, toll free calling and many more.”

Google Voice has overcome two of its biggest obstacles to mass adoption: a way onto the iPhone, as well as a way for subscribers to use the service without changing their number.
The move essentially robs the carrier of any hand in hosting voicemail services for their customers. The Internet giant last night said that Google Voice subscribers can use Google Voicemail without changing their phone number.
The new service provides a backdoor onto the iPhone by allowing users to reroute their carrier voicemail to a Google Voice account. In the past, Google Voice subscribers have had to commit to a new phone number, which many users were reluctant to do.
Google Voice features are limited for those who choose to keep their legacy number and forgo the unique Google Voice number. Those who keep their legacy number will not be able to forward calls to other phones, conference call, record calls or send text messages.
Nevertheless, even the limited Google Voicemail features represent an enhancement to standard carrier services. Google Voice subscribers who keep their legacy number are still provided with visual voicemail (voice to text) and custom voice greetings for specific callers.
While the new service does tap the iPhone in a limited sense, it’s still no replacement for a Google Voice App. Wireless Week did limited testing of the new service on the iPhone. The individualized messages for specific callers worked well. However, the visual voicemail translation is simply not accurate enough to rely upon. For lack of a Google Voice App, iPhone users who want to listen to their voicemails will still have to open a separate browser window in order to listen to each message saved to their account.
Apple, Google and AT&T have been embroiled in an FCC inquiry into Apple’s rejection of the Google Voice app from Apple’s App Store. Apple said it had not rejected the application but was holding it for further review. Later, Google produced a letter that said that Apple rejected the app because it did not want applications that “duplicated the core dialer functionality of the iPhone.”
As of press time, AT&T had not released a response to the new service. The service requires a Google Voice account and that users dial a long code from their phone to activate the voicemail service.

Nokia’s $70 million investment in Obopay earlier this year appears to be paying off. Or, at least, that would be the idea behind Nokia’s introduction today of Nokia Money, a system for sending money to other people by using a mobile phone as well as paying merchants for goods and services.

There’s no mention of the system coming to the United States. But worldwide, Nokia is building a network of Nokia Money agents, whereby consumers can deposit money in or withdraw cash from their accounts. The service will be shown for the first time at Nokia World on Sept. 2 and 3 in Stuttgart, Germany, and Nokia plans to roll it out gradually to selected markets beginning early next year.

“We believe mobile financial services offer a market opportunity with long-term growth potential,” said Mary McDowell, executive vice president and chief development officer at Nokia, in a press release. In many countries, mobile phone ownership significantly exceeds bank account usage, suggesting that many mobile phone users have very limited or no access to basic financial services, she added.

Nokia notes that with more than 4 billion mobile phone users and only 1.6 billion bank accounts, global demand for access to financial services presents a strong opportunity to combine mobile devices with financial services.

Nokia Money is based on Obopay’s mobile payment platform, and Nokia expects the service will be open and interoperable with other payment services.