T-Mobile advances Standalone networks with voice over 5G
T-Mobile has announced it has launched a commercial Voice over Network Radio (VoNR) for 5G in the United States. The company, who launched it in collaboration with Nokia, Ericsson, and Qualcomm Technologies, says the radio is available in “limited areas” in Portland, Oregon and Salt Lake City with plans to continue its VoNR rollout to many additional areas this year. It will also be released on other smartphones this year, such as the Galaxy S22.
The VoNR is designed for customers with Samsung Galaxy S21 5G smartphones and is claimed to advance the capabilities of standalone networks. The radio allows T-Mobile to keep devices always connected to 5G and enable future transformative applications that require a seamless 5G connection.
“VoNR represents the next step in the 5G maturity journey—an application that exists and operates in a complete end-to-end 5G environment,” said Jason Leigh, research manager, 5G & Mobility at IDC. “Migrating to VoNR will be a key factor in developing new immersive app experiences that need to tap into the full bandwidth, latency and density benefits offered by a 5G standalone network.”
T-Mobile leads 5G in the United States
T-Mobile is the leader in 5G with the country’s largest, fastest and most reliable 5G network. The mobile operator’s Extended Range 5G covers nearly everyone in the country – 315mn people across 1.8mn square miles. 225mn people nationwide are covered with super-fast Ultra Capacity 5G, and T-Mobile expects to cover 260mn in 2022 and 300mn next year.
Talking about the launch of the VoNR, Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Area Networks at Ericsson, said: “The commercial launch of the VoNR service is another important step in T-Mobile’s successful 5G deployment. It demonstrates how we as partners can introduce 5G voice based on the Ericsson solution.”
Tommi Uitto, President, Nokia Mobile Networks, added: “We are proud of our partnership with T-Mobile to bring the full capabilities of 5G to customers in the United States. Nokia’s radio and core solutions power T-Mobile’s 5G standalone network – and this VoNR deployment is a critical step forward for the new 5G voice ecosystem.”
“At Samsung, we want to give our users the best possible 5G experience on every device — and today’s announcement represents a big step forward,” said Jude Buckley, Executive Vice President, Mobile eXperience at Samsung Electronics America. “By supporting extensive integration and testing, and working alongside an industry leader like T-Mobile, we’re bringing to life all the benefits of 5G technology with the help of our Samsung Galaxy devices.”
