Smart makes first roaming call via VoLTE

MANILA, Philippines — Smart Communications Inc. has made the country’s first roaming call via Voice over LTE (VoLTE), a milestone achieved in partnership with Korea’s largest telecommunications company KT Corp.

Travelers with KT SIMs who are roaming in the Philippines can make and receive VoLTE calls with this capability in place, Smart said.

“This is part of our initiatives to deliver world-class customer experience and make the best technologies like VoLTE available to more users, including roamers from other countries, as the travel sector gradually reopens with the arrival of the vaccines,” PLDT and Smart head of technology Mario Tamayo said.

VoLTE offers high-definition quality phone calls by using LTE networks instead of legacy voice networks.

As such, VoLTE-to-VoLTE calls are crystal-clear, with almost no background noise, according to Smart.

Smart said VoLTE users also get the added benefit of being able to make or receive phone calls while using mobile data applications simultaneously.

In the traditional setup, devices shift from LTE network to 2G or 3G mobile networks during a voice call.

VoLTE also facilitates a much faster call setup, which reduces the waiting time for a call to connect, Smart said.

Smart was the first telco last year to complete its VoLTE rollout to cover prepaid and postpaid subscribers nationwide, enabling subscribers to enjoy VoLTE at Smart LTE-covered areas across the country.

Users need to have a VoLTE-capable smartphone with a Smart LTE SIM to enjoy the service with another VoLTE user on the other end of the line.

To make VoLTE calls, subscribers need to enable VoLTE in their phone’s settings.

Once activated, customers may simply use their phone’s native dialer to make calls with no separate app needed.

Smart and KT also previously teamed up to allow Smart prepaid and postpaid subscribers who are roaming in South Korea to enjoy 5G data roaming speeds using their Smart SIM and 5G device.