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.”

By the end of the first quarter, T-Mobile USA crossed the 30 million customer mark. Specifically, the fourth largest U.S. carrier had 30.8 million customers, adding 981,000 net new customers during the quarter. T-Mobile USA also reported OIBDA of $1.44 billion, up 18% compared to Q1 2007 and reduced contract customer churn from 1.9% in Q1 2007 to 1.7% for the first quarter this year.

During the quarter, T-Mobile USA also closed its acquisition of SunCom Wireless, adding 1.1 million customers and networks in the Southeastern United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“T-Mobile has again delivered another quality customer growth quarter,” said Robert Dotson, president and CEO of T-Mobile USA, in a statement. “In the quarter, we crossed the 30-million customer mark, more than tripling our customer base over the past six years under the T-Mobile brand…Our recent service introductions also have cracked open access to new areas of growth with targeted offerings in traditional landline replacement and advanced payment wireless plans along with the continued popularity of our unlimited myFaves offering.”

T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom reported a strong quarter as well, despite continued declines in fixed line customers. The German-based telecom giant reported a rise in net income from $706.5 million during the first quarter of last year to $1.42 billion one year later, beating analysts average expectations. But sales slipped 3.1% to $23 billion. In March, the telecom forecast lower sales and earnings at its German fixed-line unit, reporting a loss of 120,000 fixed-line customers during the quarter.

Sales across all T-Mobile units, which serve 11 European countries as well as the United States, grew less than 1% to $14 billion.

France Telecom has reportedly offered roughly $54 billion in an all-stock bid to acquire TeliaSonera, Sweden’s largest telecom, according to the online edition of the Wall Street Journal.

The proposed deal would provide access to emerging markets that France Telecom desires as well as allow it to compete more aggressively with Deutsche Telekom AG.

If France Telecom pursues the deal, it will be a challenging endeavor and will require some political wrangling as France Telecom is 27%-owned by the French government and TeliaSonera has 37% and 13.7% ownership by the Swedish and Finnish states, respectively.

Shares in France Telecom sank on news of the deal.