Following the announcement at MWC Shanghai of the launch of the world’s first VoLTE interconnected market in South Korea, the GSMA hosted a panel discussion with the South Korean Regulator and the three operators to discuss lessons learned and problems that were successfully resolved during this trail blazing project. The audience for the panel discussion was made up of operators from Japan and China who are also in the process of mobilising their own VoLTE interconnection projects to whom the insights shared from South Korea were extremely valuable. Insights from this panel discussion and access to the GSMA knowledge-base on VoLTE interconnection can be found here and http://www.gsma.com/futurenetworks/volte/ip-communications-issues-registry/.
The GSMA also awarded a Certificate of Special Recognition to the Korean Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning as well as South Korea’s mobile network operators, KT Corporation, LG Uplus and SK Telecom to commemorate the achievement of launching the world’s first interconnected VoLTE service at Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2015. The GSMA’s Director General, Anne Bouverot presented awards to Dr. Kyeongman Kim, Director of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Dr. Dongmyun Lee, CTO, KT Corporation, Dr. Suntae Kim, CTO, LG Uplus and Dr. Alex Jinsung Choi, CTO, SK Telecom. Hyumi Yang, CSO and Alex Sinclair, CTO of the GSMA were also in attendance.
In June 2015, South Korea’s mobile network operators announced the commercial interconnected VoLTE service, which is supported by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning as well as the GSMA. It will deliver higher quality calls and seamless switching between voice and video, as well as faster connection speeds to subscribers of all three networks. Previously, VoLTE services were only available to subscribers of the same network.
For more information, see http://www.gsma.com/newsroom/press-release/gsma-welcomes-launch-of-worlds-first-commercial-interconnected-volte-service-in-south-korea/.
From left to right: Dr. Kyeongman Kim, Director of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Suntae Kim, CTO, LG Uplus, Alex Jinsung Choi, CTO, SK Telecom, Anne Bouverot, Director General, GSMA, Dongmyun Lee, CTO, KT Corporation, Hyumi Yang, CSO, GSMA, Alex Sinclair, CTO, GSMA
Itsuma Tanake, NTT DOCOMO was awarded a Certificate of Recognition by Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer of the GSMA on behalf of the Network 2020 Programme Leadership Group in recognition of his outstanding contribution to GSMA initiatives over the past 5 years. Itsuma, who is about to start a full time MBA course in Barcelona, will be very much missed for his technical insight and tenacious commitment to both the PSMC and Network 2020 Programme.
Left: Itsuma Tanaka, Lead Core Network Architect for NTT DoCoMo, Inc
Right: Alex Sinclair CTO, GSMA