Keith Dyer, Founder and Editor of The Mobile Network (@tmnmag) and Syniverse (@Syniverse) explore what’s driving the rapid move to VoLTE and what can be learned from the operators and service providers that have already implemented these next generation LTE services for roaming.

1. 1
#VoLTELessons
Lessons Learned:
Implementing VoLTE Roaming
Mary Clark
Chief Marketing Officer, Syniverse
@SyniverseCMO

2. 2
#VoLTELessons
Global VoLTE Deployments
Commercially launched VoLTE
Investing in VoLTE deployments
111 MNOs
investing in
VoLTE
- GSA
30 MNOs in
21 countries
with
commercially
launched VoLTE
voice service
- GSA
755million
LTE connections
worldwide
- GSA
442
commercially
launched LTE
networks - 147
countries
- GSA

3. 3
#VoLTELessons
VoLTE Market Forecast
83% of carriers surveyed say
they will deploy VoLTE by 2016
- Infonetics
72M VoLTE roaming MOUs in 2015
278M VoLTE roaming MOUs in 2016
VoLTE roaming MOUs will grow by
CAGR of 145% over next 5 years to
reach 4.7B by 2020
- HOT TELECOM
600 million Smartphone users
worldwide will use VoLTE by
2018 as their default voice
service
- Analysys Mason
VoLTE connections forecast
– Analysys Mason, 2015
Current state of VoLTE launches
– Analysys Mason, 2015

4. 4
#VoLTELessons
Already
Launched
Next 6
Months
6-12 Months
12 Months or
Beyond
Undecided
If you are planning to launch LTE/VoLTE on
your home network, what is your timeline?

5. 5
#VoLTELessons
Haven’t
Launched Home
Network Yet
Next 6 Months 6-12 Months
12 Months or
Beyond
Undecided
If you are planning to launch LTE/VoLTE
roaming, what is your timeline?

6. 6
#VoLTELessons
Keith Dyer, Founder and Editor, The Mobile Network
 Founded The Mobile Network in 2013, introducing a new voice to the
media covering mobile network technology.
 17 years experience covering the mobile network technology ecosystem
as a journalist and editor.
 Tracked the development of the VoLTE ecosystem since its beginnings.
John Wick, Senior Vice President and General Manager – Mobile
Transaction Services, Syniverse
 Responsible for the management and growth of Syniverse’s IP, SS7 and
number portability product lines.
 Joined Syniverse in 1993 as a senior critical support analyst with the
network operations department.
 Certified Six Sigma Black Belt.
Today’s Expert Panelists

7. 7
#VoLTELessons
Keith Dyer
Founder and Editor, The Mobile Network
@keithdyer

8. #VoLTELessons

9. VOLTE – operator
experiences
12/10/2015 VoLTE I Operator Experiences and Learning 9
• Clear commitment to the service
• But it’s not been easy…
#VoLTELessons

10. VOLTE – operator
experiences
12/10/2015 VoLTE I Operator Experiences and Learning 10
• Optimisation and tuning of radio network
• New characterisation and visibility for quality
assurance
• Extensive and complex testing
• Intensive efforts in IMS
• Integration Billing and BSS
• Device support
• Consumer education
“This is the most complex thing I’ve ever worked
on in 20 years.”
#VoLTELessons

11. VOLTE – operator
experiences
12/10/2015 VoLTE I Operator Experiences and Learning 11
“Our customers love it…”
Customer benefits
• Set-up time
SK Telecom customer survey
• Call quality
• Battery upside
• Service richness?
#VoLTELessons

12. VOLTE – operator
experiences
12/10/2015 VoLTE I Operator Experiences and Learning 12
Do operators love it more?
• Long term spectrum turn-off
• More efficient use existing spectrum
• Signalling efficiency of all IP
• Potential for new (IMS) services
• Supporting infrastructure enables VoWifi
#VoLTELessons

13. VOLTE – operator
experiences
12/10/2015 VoLTE I Operator Experiences and Learning 13
Limited VoLTE roaming to date… why?
• LG UPlus & KDDI
• LG UPlus & Smartone
• NTT and KT
Credit: Ovum Whitepaper, Feb 2015
#VoLTELessons

14. VOLTE – operator
experiences
12/10/2015 VoLTE I Operator Experiences and Learning 14
Well, why enable VoLTE roaming anyway?
• Customer access to high quality voice and
video calls
• Keep customers on-brand
• Ensure quality for high value customers
• Long term – 2/3G switch off in home/visited networks
• Fate – it’s going to happen anyway
#VoLTELessons

15. VOLTE – operator
experiences
12/10/2015 VoLTE I Operator Experiences and Learning 15
The technical hurdles
• RAVEL - complexity
• S8HR – lacks feature support
Fix it at home first…
India Times – December 2015
#VoLTELessons

16. VOLTE – operator
experiences
12/10/2015 VoLTE I Operator Experiences and Learning 16
CONCLUSIONS AND
QUESTIONS
• How should we do it?
Real commitments, it will happen but
operators are asking…
• When should we deploy?
#VoLTELessons

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#VoLTELessons
John Wick
Senior Vice President and General Manager
Mobile Transaction Services, Syniverse

18. 18
#VoLTELessons
VoLTE Interconnect vs. VoLTE Roaming
IPX
MNO A MNO B
VoLTE Interconnect
IPX
MNO A MNO B
VoLTE Roaming
MNO A Subscriber
@ Home
MNO B Subscriber
@ Home
MNO A Subscriber
Roaming

19. 19
#VoLTELessons
Challenges
 Lawful intercept/Emergency calling
 Lawful intercept – allows home network, but not at
visited network location
 Emergency calling
 Voice Call Continuity (moving from VoLTE to CS)
 No service visibility for VPMN
 Distinguishing data traffic from VoLTE by APN and QCI
only
 SMS not distinguishable from signaling
 Cannot retail bill based on TAP
VoLTE Roaming Scenarios
Home-Based Routing (S8HR)
Advantages
 Faster to deploy than LBO – Uses same GTP
tunnel as LTE Data Roaming traffic
 Utilizes the same components already in evolved
packet core (VPMN does not require IMS Core)
 Can use same data IOT charges with roaming
partners, no need to update roaming agreements
for IMS services
 Uses existing TAP and RAEX with only minor
changes
IPX
IPX
E-UTRAN
MME
VPMN A-Party HPMN A-Party
B-Party
HSS
P-CSCF
S-CSCF
TAS
SGW
DRA
IBCF
VoLTE
Roaming
Interconnect
IMS
IMS
eXchange
PCRF
PGW

20. 20
#VoLTELessons
VoLTE Roaming Scenarios
Local Breakout
Advantages
 Session awareness at the served network
 Visibility into the control and media plane of a
call or video session taking place
 Gives ability to offer lawful intercept and
emergency call handling
 Continuity of a voice call between LTE and CS
 Support for billing model - TAP for retail billing
Challenges
 Complexity (flexibility and power, but more complex)
 IMS interoperability challenges with LBO – different
vendors/different implementation
 Requires multiple feeds from many network elements for
both VPMN and HPMN
 LBO for VoLTE with S8HR for data adds complexity
 New TAP record types (mobile session/messaging event) that
are unused today
IPX
IPX
xCSCF
MME
VPMN A-Party HPMN A-Party
B-Party
HSS
P-CSCF
S-CSCF
TAS
IBCF
DRA
IBCF
VoLTE
Roaming
VoLTE
Interconnect
EPC
IMS
IMS
IMS
eXchange
IMS
eXchange
PCRF
IBCF

21. 21
#VoLTELessons
First Transoceanic VoLTE Roaming
• Collaboration with an American and Japanese operator to enable the world’s
first transoceanic VoLTE roaming call based on an S8HR architecture
Established VoLTE roaming between South Korea and Japan
• LG Uplus subscribers from Korea roaming onto the KDDI network in Japan
Launch of the world’s first commercial VoLTE roaming service
• LG Uplus subscribers from Korea roaming onto the SmarTone network in Hong
Kong
Lessons Learned:
VoLTE Roaming Trials and Implementation

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#VoLTELessons
 Connection setup and call quality are better than 3G
 Real time control of voice traffic - eliminates need
for CAMEL, helps control fraud
 Handsets do not default to VoLTE for roaming
 Operators must work with handset vendors to modify
defaults
 Assumed that the home operator would support
lawful intercept.
 Not valid in all cases due to regulations within
countries.
 Charging for VoLTE needs to be worked out by each
operator.
 Example: Some operators charge LTE data IOT rates for
VoLTE. If operators prefer a different IOT they must
distinguish VoLTE from LTE data using APNs/QCIs.
Lessons Learned – S8HR

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#VoLTELessons
 Operators must understand how their roaming
partner(s) supports S8HR
 How QCIs are configured
 Maximum bit rate for each QCI
 Number of APNs and which APNs are supported per QCI
 Video calls started during voice calls difficult to
distinguish by VPMN
 Appears as another data flow so two separate TAP records
are created
 HPMN needs to consider correlation of records for retail
billing
 SMS is viewed as signaling
 If signaling is not charged between roaming partners SMS
is no charge
 May open the door for messaging SPAM
 GSMA recommends charging for signaling to alleviate
potential issues
Lessons Learned – S8HR

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#VoLTELessons
Q&A

25. 25
#VoLTELessons
Thank You!
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