According to the latest report by the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), mobile HD voice based on AMR (Adaptive Multi Rate) wideband technology (W-AMR), is currently being supported by 32 mobile networks across the world. With almost 52 mobile phone models launched in the recent past supporting HD Voice, leading telecom manufacturers continue to show greater support to HD voice in their infrastructure. It provides significantly higher voice quality for calls between mobile phones supporting the feature, and can be implemented in GSM, WCDMA (UMTS) and LTE networks.
HD Voice transmits a broader spectrum for the human voice, thus producing high quality voice calls and an improved user experience. Since HD Voice also produces better results in noisy environments, from a business user’s perspective, it can be especially advantageous in long conference calls. HD Voice helps operators to clearly differentiate their offerings and enable high quality services to voice-dependent businesses, like call center services, information services, emergency services, etc. The maximum benefits from using HD Voice on a compatible mobile network are realized or perceived when both calling and called party use HD Voice-capable phones.
W-AMR speech technology is standardized in 3GPP Release 5. From a network perspective, W-AMR must be based on one of two complementary 3GPP standards: tandem-free operation (TFO) or transcoder-free operation (TrFO). The narrowband AMR uses PCM for to and fro communication thereby adding signal complexity and lowering voice quality. W-AMR can be accommodated in GSM with the inclusion of TFO, which is part of 3GPP GERAN, which does not require substantial modification of the core network. Thus the combination of TFO and TrFO enables W-AMR calls between all types of 3GPP mobile devices (i.e. GSM/EDGE and UMTS/WCDMA-HSPA).
Orange Moldova was the first in the world to introduce HD Voice in mid-2009. Orange has consistently launched HD-Voice services across Europe, Africa and South America, with about 12 countries supporting the service by end of H1 in 2011. Europe has the majority of operators supporting HD-Voice. Verizon Wireless had announced earlier this year that it would roll out its VoLTE services (which supports HD Voice) by 2012. Tata DoCoMo is the only operator to support the service in India.
Nokia has the maximum number of devices that support HD Voice. Sony Ericsson’s Xperia phones are currently being shipped with HD Voice turned on for 3G/WCDMAHSPA operation. Other notable smartphones with HD-Voice include Samsung’s Galaxy S II and HTC’s Sensation. Please visit
