Why Every MNO Should Accelerate VoLTE Roaming Now | Syniverse

Key Takeaways from Kaleido’s report, Accelerating VoLTE Roaming: Operator Strategies for 2024 & Beyond  

Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is not just the future of roaming, it’s the now. 

VoLTE is the foundation of voice services as the world transitions to 5G. With more than 188 Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) leveraging this technology in over 90 countries, it’s evident the move toward 5G is well underway. VoLTE roaming delivers clear, uninterrupted voice calls as subscribers roam between networks. VoLTE deployment enables backwards compatibility and continuous support for legacy devices.  

In a survey conducted by Kaleido Intelligence, 91% of respondents have or are in the process of rolling out the infrastructure needed to support VoLTE roaming, up from 64% in the previous survey. Another 8% of respondents have immediate plans to invest in an IMS core, leaving only 1% of survey respondents without a timeline to invest.

It’s clear that MNOs are rapidly adopting VoLTE roaming, modernizing their network architecture, and improving efficiency, as 93% view VoLTE roaming as a key operational strategy and priority moving forward. Over the course of the next three years, 63% of MNOs anticipate having over 100 VoLTE roaming agreements.  

So why change now? 

Operators continue to phase out their 2G and 3G networks, refarming their spectrum in exchange for 5G. This frees up resources and reduces the cost of supporting multiple networks. Survey results show the phase-out of legacy networks as the primary reason for adopting VoLTE for more than 80% of respondents.  As of July 2024, 274 MNOs have shut down their legacy networks, with an additional 109 operators planning to phase out legacy networks soon. 

Challenges of sunsetting 

While the sunsetting of legacy networks is making way for 5G, it brings along a set of challenges for operators to address. For example, voice services will be impacted in places where 2G and 3G networks have been phased out and VoLTE has not been adopted. As many operators continue the transition to 5G, non-VoLTE operators will be unable to leverage voice and possibly data when roaming into a 5G network. This challenge will create coverage gaps impacting subscribers.  

Currently, many IoT devices such as cars, security systems, and smart utilities operate on 2G and 3G networks. The phase-out of legacy networks will impact consumers and businesses that are leveraging connectivity for these devices.  Existing IoT infrastructure will have to be upgraded over time to take advantage of the improvements of the new generations of networks. 

Business Impact 

MNOs must tackle technical and operational challenges such as network architecture, signaling, and device compatibility for successful VoLTE roaming implementation. MNO networks must be fully interoperable with other MNOs’ IMS platforms and maintain robust Quality of Service policies. 

As MNOs continue to adopt VoLTE roaming, contracts between MNOs must be addressed. In Kaleido’s survey, 66% of survey respondents plan to amend existing roaming contracts for efficiency and to expedite the implementation of VoLTE roaming. Another 18% of operators are requiring VoLTE roaming in agreements, whereas 15% of operators are launching new commercial agreements.  

Syniverse Evolved Mobility® 

With legacy networks phasing out, many MNOs are in different phases of adopting VoLTE roaming, to keep up with subscriber expectations for a seamless voice and data experience, wherever they roam.  

Having backwards compatibility is an important aspect of the transition, to maintain service continuity that supports legacy and 5g networks. Subscriber experience is critical, remaining uninterrupted while MNOs embrace the latest technology. Syniverse Evolved Mobility facilitates a smooth technology transition by enabling MNOs to continuously deliver exceptional subscriber experience and maintain roaming revenues.   

Syniverse Evolved Mobility for Inbound roaming enables MNOs to provision inbound roamers whose home MNO does not support VoLTE roaming. This allows visited MNOs that have already sunsetted their legacy networks to maintain or grow their inbound roaming.  

Syniverse Evolved Mobility for Outbound enables home MNOs that have retired their legacy networks the ability to support their subscribers as they roam into visited networks that do not support VoLTE roaming.  

Syniverse Evolved Mobility for Messaging enables greenfield MNOs and MNOs retiring their MSC the ability to support inbound roamers who still require SMS fallback over SS7. This eliminates loss of inbound revenues due to missing legacy GSM SMS delivery.  

Learn more 

Download our free whitepaper, Accelerating VoLTE Roaming: Operator Strategies for 2024 & Beyond.  

Explore how Syniverse Evolved Mobility drives inbound revenue and protects outbound experiences.  

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