VoIP deployments over 4G mobile will set future standards

The future sustainability of VoIP will depend on the deployment of the technology over 4G mobile networks, a leading organisation claims.

According to a report by analysts Maravedis, there is a "great opportunity" for VoIP providers in the extra bandwidth promised by 4G standards and WiMax.

However, the report also advises that providers should be careful to set out specific provisions for voice traffic running over their networks in order to ensure service quality issues.

Basharat Ashai, co-author of the report, told ZDNet Asia that "vendor selection is key" for VoIP providers.

"Since WiMax does not today specifically address how quality of service (QoS) is applied for voice traffic, equipment vendors decide how to classify packets as VoIP and how to apply QoS to those packets," he explained.

"Best practices for network architecture and provisioning are lacking."

Marvedis also says that the present subscriber pool for Voice over 4G (Vo4G) is less than 300,000 with 35 per cent being in Europe followed by 25 per cent in Asia-Pacific.