Smart Communications Inc. has launched its voice over LTE (VolTE) service nationwide for its postpaid subscribers.

“This service is part of our commitment to bring high quality experiences to our customers by making technologies such as VoLTE available to them,”  Jane J. Basas, senior vice president and head of Consumer Wireless Business at Smart said.

VoLTE, the first, fully IP-based, carrier grade voice service, will initially be made available to Smart Signature and Smart Infinity subscribers and will be rolled out to more customers in the coming months.

VoLTE enables users to make phone calls via LTE using LTE SIMs and VoLTE-capable handsets, such as the Samsung Galaxy A31 and the Huawei P40 series, for example. 

This means that they can simultaneously be in a phone call while actively using mobile data for other applications—unlike in the current setup, where devices shift from the 4G network to 2G or 3G mobile networks during a voice call.

Aside from improved call quality, VoLTE also enables faster call setup, which means the amount of time it takes for a mobile phone to connect to another for a voice call is also drastically reduced.

Using VoLTE-capable handsets, customers can also make VoLTE calls using their phone’s native dialer, and will not require a separate, over-the-top (OTT) application. Compared to OTT apps, VoLTE delivers better voice quality, and also guarantees that the receiver of the call is reached, unlike OTTs that require both caller and receiver to be online and on the same app.