A conversation about Wi-Fi Calling with Mark McDiarmid, VP of Radio Network Engineering and Development, T-Mobile US
Download a transcript of the interview and be the first to receive the report “Voice comes to the fore, again. VoLTE and Wi-Fi Calling redefine voice.”
With over half of voice calls being routed over LTE and one of the earliest VoWi-Fi services, T-Mobile US has been very active in drawing a new role for voice services and in taking a new approach to leverage voice services to improve customer retention. I recently spoke with Mark McDiarmid, VP of Radio Network Engineering and Development at T-Mobile US on how voice is evolving in T-Mobile US’ network.
“Moving voice from circuit-switched onto IP allows us to go and use voice on any device that can support IP and has a speaker and microphone. The opportunity [is] to bring it to the desktop, whether it’s laptops and tablets, or smaller tablet form factors or other devices, which may be more cellular-like but without the SIM card, for example. The opportunity is practically limitless,” McDiarmid said.
The new role of voice is creating a new role for conversational video.
“We’re beginning to see that on the cellular networks now, where people are increasingly comfortable taking the step of going to video, but they’re not doing it on the basis of sending video requests,” McDiarmid told us. “They’re starting with voice, or even text progressing to voice, and then asking for permission to go to video. There is a social etiquette behind how these services are used, which is still evolving. I think we’re learning. We’re listening very carefully to our customers.”
This interview is part of our upcoming report “Voice comes to the fore, again. VoLTE and Wi-Fi Calling redefine voice.” We also discussed this topic on a recent webinar. Download the webinar
