Swisscom claims it is the first European operator to effectively combine voice-over-LTE and Wi-Fi calling to combat weak mobile signals in heavily insulated buildings.
The Swiss operator recently made its Wi-Fi calling service available in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Wi-Fi will play a key role in the carriers “Advanced Calling” service as it continues to launch the service in other countries.
Marc Werner, Swisscom’s head of residential customers, believes the Advanced Calling expansion will increase the value of Swisscom’s Natel Infinity plus subscriptions to users roaming in other European Union markets. The service already allows “between 30 and 365 days of unlimited calls per year,” according to Werner.
With the new service, subscribers will automatically be switched to Wi-Fi networks when mobile signals drop below that of the Wi-Fi signal. Swisscom said this will eliminate the process of switching between 2G, 3G and LTE networks, which will decrease battery usage for mobile devices allowing the device to hold a charge longer.
Recently, Swisscom announced that it plans to upgrade its LTE network to offer data rates up to 450 megabits per second by the end of the year to keep up with growing demand for broadband services. Mobile data demand has doubled in the last year, according to Swisscom.
Currently, the Wi-Fi service is only available to Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge customers, but the company plans to expand the service to other smartphone users by the end of the year.
