LG U+ has partnered with Ericsson's subsidiary LG-Ericsson to introduce voice over LTE (VoLTE) services in South Korea.  With VoLTE technology, the South Korean operator will be able to offer its subscribers better voice quality and an improved user experience, as well as enhanced telecom grade services such as HD voice, video calling, chat and presence. As of August 2012, LG U+ served 3.1 million LTE subscribers.

LG U+ users in South Korea get access to voice over LTE (VoLTE) services. This is thanks to a decision made by South Korean operator LG U+, in partnership with Ericsson's (NASDAQ: ERIC) majority-owned subsidiary LG-Ericsson, to make subscribers in South Korea benefit from commercial VoLTE (GSMA IR.92) services.

The demand for LTE data services in South Korea has increased rapidly ever since LG U+ became the first operator in the country to launch LTE commercially on July 1, 2011. As of August 2012, LG U+ has confirmed that LGU+ is the second largest LTE provider in South Korea, serving 3.1 million of LTE subscribers.

Joo sik Choi, Senior Vice President of Service Creation, LG U+ says: "Improving the user experience for our subscribers is always our top priority. Ericsson's global leadership in LTE technology and experience in building an end-to-end LTE network infrastructure helped ensure the success of the nationwide launch of this service."

Johan Wibergh, Head of Business Unit Networks at Ericsson, says: "With the new VoLTE technology, LG U+ will be able to offer its subscribers better voice quality and an improved user experience. The new VoLTE services will sharpen LG U+'s competitive edge considerably and will provide the foundation for further enriching their communication services offering."

Originally, 4G/LTE technology was developed for data communication only. The 4G/LTE technology has now evolved to embrace Rich Communication Services as well, making it a full telecommunication grade technology. VoLTE is a technology that allows voice calls to be made over an LTE network at the same time as users can access high-speed mobile broadband services and rich communication services. Up until now, in order to handle voice calls, CDMA-LTE devices required simultaneous radio operation on both CDMA and LTE, which is inherently inefficient and does not allow for a fully integrated rich communications offering.

Ericsson has supplied an end-to-end VoLTE network to LG U+, including LTE-RAN, Evolved Packet Core, and IMS Telephony Application Server.