How costly is the implementation of VoLTE technology for a mobile operator?

Question

mobile connection

Faced with the fact that the mobile operator in my region has not yet implemented VoLTE (and VoWiFi). Therefore, it became interesting how financially it is to implement such a technology from the point of view of the operator's business.

Answer 1

VoLTE and VoWiFi are two different songs.
VoWiFi itself is not only not useful to the operator, but even, on the contrary, harmful)
VoWiFi is, in fact, the abolition of international roaming, and this is a drop in income, because they have not yet learned how to really make money on VoWiFI.
And in VoWiFi there are no guaranteed QoS mechanisms. And these are clicks, stutters and other joys of an overloaded Wi-Fi, which we all know on Skype and WhatsApp in cafes, despite the fact that at home it seems to work without problems. And if in VoLTE the operator can guarantee the quality parameters, then the operator will not be able to satisfy the subscriber who has gone crazy from the quality of the VoWiFI connection in the Egyptian two-star hotel in principle.
Everything is better with VoLTE, because, in the future, the voice will still go there. There is, however, a suspicion that by that time everything will have to be redone again, since there is already a real 5G on the nose (not the one that is deployed with pomp in places around the world - but the real one), and there, it seems, everything will again be in a new way, and no one yet knows how.
At least, VoLTE is currently being screwed to 5G transrectally.
Well, I agree with Valentin on the inhibitory factors of VoLTE :
- dragging voice communications from traditional MSS to IMS without breaking along the way is a feat in itself
- billing in VoLTE works quite differently. Drag billing from CAMEL to Diameter often means changing the billing system in principle, and for this the participants are already supposed to put up a bronze equestrian memorial. The difficulty here, of course, is not in launching the DBMS installer, but in the fact that another billing room operates with other concepts in its configuration, and at the same time it is necessary to maintain the performance of those several thousand tariff options that have accumulated over the entire period of operation
- the delivery of SORM VoLTE, which is in a licensed form appeared just about - also a separate song, especially, they say, in the Urals)
By the way, the situation when the eNodeB base stations, the PCRF QoS policy control node and the MME mobility control node are from different manufacturers adds a special urgency to the implementation of VoLTE. And, it seems, everything works according to the standards, but each manufacturer has read and understood the standards in his own way, keeps his opinion to the last and answers the requests "it's not us, it's that stupid supplier of yours." As a result, VoLTE works at the very least in the laboratory, but everyone understands that it cannot be released for commerce in this form.

Answer 2

No operator has put this into full commercial operation nationwide.

how financially expensive it is to implement such technology from the point of view of the operator's business.

Expensive, since it is necessary to upgrade the packet core, create a new IMS core, upgrade billing and provide SORM activities. To demonstrate on a test stand for advertising is one thing, to launch it in commerce is another.