Mobile VoIP can you hear me now?

Wireless operators have never placed much value in VoIP, preferring to tout cash cow voice and SMS services. However, recent announcements from Verizon Wireless and Telefonica O2 illustrate that wireless operators are changing their tune. First there was Verizon, which last week highlighted that it was testing VoIP services on its LTE network in Boston. During a trial with Alcatel-Lucent, Verizon Wireless said it successfully made data calls using VoIP to enable voice transmissions over the LTE 4G network. The wireless operator added that it also completed the first LTE 4G data call based on the 3GPP Release 8 standard in Seattle with Ericsson.

But Telefonica O2's German division took the VoIP idea even further. The operator announced that VoIP applications can now be carried on its 3G wireless network, but only in its German market. O2 said subscribers who want to access VoIP applications such as Skype or Fring will have to buy a mobile Internet Pack for around $35.21 per month which includes 200 Mbps of HSPA. While 4G is far from actual mainstream reality, these moves by Verizon and O2 as suggested by Om Malik in his blog, should prove to wireless operators that VoIP is yet another data application that is going to run over their respective IP network.

For more:
- GigaOM has this post
- theunwired.net has this article
- here's the Verizon Wireless release

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