DOCOMO to Launch Japan’s First VoLTE Service

Posted on May 17 2014 - 11:46am by Editor2

NTT DOCOMO, INC., a personalized mobile solutions provider for smarter living, announced today that its extra-high speed XiTM (read “crossy”) network will offer Japan’s first LTE service for stable, high-quality voice and video calls using Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) technology, beginning late June.

DOCOMO

Four smartphones and two tablets in DOCOMO’s summer lineup will become compatible with the new service after a software update scheduled in or after late June.

The service will newly enable users to receive Area MailTM disaster-information notifications while making VoLTE voice/video calls. Also, users will be able to access up to 150 Mbps high-speed LTE data communication during VoLTE voice calls.

DOCOMO’s new VoLTE service will require a subscription to Xi.

Existing Xi billing plans, packet flat-rate services, discounts and dialing charges will be applicable to VoLTE voice calls, including the new Kake-hodai & Pake-aeru billing plans for flat-rate voice and data, as well as data sharing with family members.

Packet communication charges for VoLTE video calls will be offered free of charge until September 2015, after which video calls will incur both voice and packet communication charges.