Verizon Looking At VoIP Over 3G

Verizon Wireless says it could eventually provide voice-over-IP service over the next generation of its 3G network, Unstrung reported Thursday.

The online publication quoted the wireless operator's chief technology officer, Dick Lynch, as saying the product offering could be launched in the 2008 or 2009 timeframe. That would come after the operator upgrades its 3G network to 1xEV-DO Revision A.

That upgrade will provide peak data rates of about 1.8 Mbps, compared to typical rates of 300 Kbps to 400 Kbps for the current generation of 1xEV-DO. Verizon Wireless has been rolling out its 1xEV-DO 3G network nationwide and is on target to complete the roll-out later this year.

Unstrung quoted Lynch speaking at a Banc of America Securities LLC conference in New York this week. Lynch told the group that field trials of the Rev A upgrade will start around the end of 2006.

"It's very safe to say that, from a technology perspective, the following year we're going to see some real deployments," Lynch told the group, according to Unstrung.

Many industry observers have suggested that wireless voice-over-IP using technologies such as Wi-Fi and, eventually, mobile WiMAX will take revenue away from cellular carriers. VoIP over the cellular network, however, would be one way of combating such revenue loss.

Cellular infrastructure vendor Lucent Technologies has been talking up 1xEV-DO recently, making several announcements about it at the recent CTIA Wireless show. The upgrade runs roughly parallel to the HSDPA upgrade to current UMTS 3G systems based on GSM technology.