A woman walks past three Telstra public phone booths in suburban Sydney August 9, 2012. Telstra, Australia's biggest phone company, posted a larger-than-expected 5 percent fall in second-half profit as declines in its traditional fixed-line business outwe
A woman walks past three Telstra public phone booths in suburban Sydney August 9, 2012. Telstra, Australia's biggest phone company, posted a larger-than-expected 5 percent fall in second-half profit as declines in its traditional fixed-line business outweighed growth in fixed retail broadband and mobile revenue. Reuters/Daniel Munoz

Optus is planning to be the first Australian carrier to deliver commercial voice over wi-fi service to its customers with the company committed to launch the service within few weeks, according to reports.

“Optus is always looking at ways to enhance our customer experience and we’re currently working on exciting developments for wi-fi calling which we expect to announce mid-2015,” a report on IT News quoted an Optus spokesman as saying.

While Telstra appears to be interested in voice over wi-fi as another way of delivering voice services to its customers in future, Vodafone currently has no such plans, reports IT News.

Voice Over Wi-Fi and its status in Australia

Voice over Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi calling is a provision in which users can make calls either by accessing their Wi-Fi connection at home or any other public Wi-Fi hotspot. A Wi-Fi calling service provided by any telco doesn’t require a third party app, as per a report on CNET.

Voice over Wi-Fi has been popular in the US, says the IT News report. Though telcos in Australia are one of the most advanced in the world they have been behind other countries in the race for the implementation of Voice over Wi-Fi, reports Whatphone. The publication also mentions that in the UK, EE introduced Wi-Fi calling in April 2015 with Vodafone soon going to join the league.

Benefits of Voice over Wi-Fi

Voice over Wi-Fi will be a good provision for those people based out of those areas where mobile phone signals are weaker. Once the smartphone is enabled with Wi-Fi calling, it transfers the call over to the WiFi wireless network and the call continues without any disruptions and most importantly, the technology is easy to use, reports Whatphone.

(For feedback/comments, mail the writer at pragyan.ibtimes@gmail.com)

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