{"id":3492,"date":"2014-01-03T10:34:59","date_gmt":"2014-01-03T02:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=3492"},"modified":"2014-01-03T10:45:59","modified_gmt":"2014-01-03T02:45:59","slug":"voice-quality-still-matters-mobile-operators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2014\/01\/03\/voice-quality-still-matters-mobile-operators\/","title":{"rendered":"Voice quality still matters for mobile operators"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Persistent problems with the quality of mobile voice calls continue to negatively affect customer attitudes toward their network operator, which ultimately will require operators to invest in better-performing technologies like voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) and HD Voice to reduce customer churn, according to the latest report from Heavy Reading 4G\/LTE Insider, a paid research service of Heavy Reading.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mobile Call Quality: Does Better Really Matter?&#8221; identifies and analyzes key issues affecting the market for mobile voice products and services, including handsets, infrastructure and HD Voice licenses. The report is based on interviews with a representative sample of companies.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Call quality affects operator expenses such as attracting and retaining customers,&#8221; notes Tim Kridel, research analyst with Heavy Reading 4G\/LTE Insider and author of the report. &#8220;The catch is that even when an operator provides call quality that&#8217;s noticeably superior to that of its rivals, it&#8217;s not necessarily something that customers will pay extra for.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>VoLTE is one of several new tools that operators have for improving call quality, but HD Voice arguably has the most potential impact, Kridel says. &#8220;Operator research indicates that HD Voice already is a market differentiator,&#8221; he continues. &#8220;However, operators won&#8217;t be able to charge a premium for superior call quality because as more operators deploy HD Voice and other enhancements, lifelike quality becomes table stakes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Key findings of Mobile Call Quality: Does Better Really Matter? include:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Consumer surveys show call quality is a major loyalty factor, especially in the U.S.<br \/>\n&#8211; Higher call quality can increase revenue by encouraging longer and more frequent calls<br \/>\n&#8211; Higher call quality could spur more consumers and businesses to cut the cord<br \/>\n&#8211; Cellular minutes of use are flat, but that doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean customers are talking less<br \/>\n&#8211; HD Voice is a minor additional expense, partly because it leverages VoLTE<br \/>\n&#8211; Infrastructure vendors say mobile operator RFIs and RFPs routinely ask about call quality<br \/>\n&#8211; Mobile operators could use VoLTE and HD Voice to fend off OTT rivals<br \/>\n&#8211; Call-quality upgrades also benefit non-voice services such as ringback tones, gaming and music<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/4gltei1213_table1.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3496\" alt=\"4gltei1213_table1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/4gltei1213_table1.gif\" width=\"587\" height=\"315\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Persistent problems with the quality of mobile voice calls continue to negatively affect customer attitudes toward their network operator, which ultimately will require operators to invest in better-performing technologies like voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) and HD Voice to reduce customer churn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,2],"tags":[1144,393,31],"class_list":["post-3492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-mobile-products","tag-mobile-operators","tag-research","tag-telecommunications"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}