Yesterday, Vodacom claimed to have placed the country’s first-ever “native” voice call on the 5G spectrum, a capability known as Voice over New Radio (VonR). The mobile operator placed the call over its test network, calling it an “important prelude to launching the service on the live network.”
While South Africa has had access to the 5G spectrum for many years now, it has been exclusively reserved for carrying data, while 5G-capable smartphones are still forced to rely on older VoLTE (Voice over LTE) infrastructure when placing traditional voice calls. Not for much longer, says Vodacom.
Vodacom’s VoNR is showing
“5G native VoNR calls will further build on this with even faster call setup times, superior voice quality with ultra-high-definition audio and reduced background noise. 5G technology will also make it possible to introduce several new tech-driven capabilities and user experiences, adding even greater value for users,” said Vodacom, comparing this launch to that of VoLTE, which brought about better call quality and shorter setup times.
It won’t be long before the likes of MTN and Cell C accomplish similar feats in the face of the pending 2/3G shutdown planned for South Africa over the coming years. While there is still no official date in place for that to happen, it is imperative that SA’s mobile operators continue building upon the 5G infrastructure in place.
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Vodacom claims the VoNR call was difficult to achieve, owing to the Single Packet Core (SPC) that it used for the test, which it says is typically “complex to deploy,” as it requires “cloud orchestration, cloud native applications and network upgrades” to pull off.
‘The successful completion of this VoNR 5G call demonstrates the Vodacom network’s capability to provide smooth, uninterrupted, high-quality voice services across multiple access technologies,” the operator said in a statement.
