CALLING

SEAMLESS3
NEXT GENERATION WI-FI CALLING
APTILO WHITE PAPER
By Allan Greve, Senior Consultant & Analyst at Tefficient

ABSTRACT
Next generation Wi-Fi Calling has created a paradigm shift in how mobile operators can provide
indoor coverage for voice services. The improved customer experience has a profound impact on
customer retention. This white paper aims to give an overview of next generation Wi-Fi Calling
both in commercial and technical terms. We take the perspective from the end-users, operators,
hand-set manufacturers and OTT players.
SEAMLESS NEXT GENERATION WI-FI CALLING [MAY 2016]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Wi-Fi Calling is relatively new – and then, not really. In 2014, Apple’s launch of iOS 8 with
embedded Wi-Fi Calling marked a milestone for voice calling with mobile devices, despite several
years of Voice over Wi-Fi services in various guises preceding iOS 8.

Wi-Fi Calling in its current “next generation” form is standardised and embedded in mobile
devices. The network components needed to make Wi-Fi Calling possible are available and easy
to integrate into an existing mobile network – particularly easy if the network is already VoLTE-
capable.

Several mobile operators have already launched Wi-Fi Calling and owners of newer iPhones can
enjoy Wi-Fi Calling without much hassle if their operator supports it. The picture for owners of
Android phones is a bit less clear but mobile operators generally support Wi-Fi Calling on high-
end Android devices.

OTT players still have some differentiating features, although one of the initial key advantages of
using OTT apps has disappeared with the introduction of Wi-Fi Calling.

Wi-Fi Calling should be viewed as a way for mobile operators to provide an improved customer
experience to their customers through better indoor coverage. These customers become
reachable in more places than without Wi-Fi Calling and the use of Wi-Fi Calling is designed to
be “seamless” for the users.

Operators who have adopted Wi-Fi Calling early, such as T-Mobile (United States) and EE (United
Kingdom), have reported fast take-up and they have also indicated call volumes, but the actual
usage is still not communicated publically.

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1
INTRODUCTION – WHY WI-FI CALLING?
Making voice calls on mobile phones via Wi-Fi networks has in principle been around for many years
so what’s the big deal with “next generation” Wi-Fi Calling1?

Phone Wi-Fi Calling

Wi-Fi Calling on This iPhone

The big deal with Wi-Fi Calling is that it provides operators a way to offer an operator-
controlled solution, which provides better indoor coverage, leading to customer
retention through better customer experience.

Apple’s launch of iOS 8 in September 2014 marks the first major milestone on the path to
make Wi-Fi Calling available to the masses. Until iOS 8, only a few not-so-popular handsets
supported Wi-Fi Calling through proprietary software on select mobile networks but with the
release of iOS 8, suddenly the best-selling mobile phone family supports Wi-Fi Calling.

In many mobile networks, as much as 80% of the users’ data traffic is carried on Wi-Fi rather
than the mobile network2 and a similar ratio should be expected for voice traffic. Note though,
that this percentage is very dependent on the network selection criterion applied in the handset
and that this criterion is unclear and may differ between handsets (see later in this document).

Mobile devices have seamlessly switched between Wi-Fi and mobile data networks for
many years but only for data services, not voice services. Why is that? Apart from the
absence of relevant standardisation, the main reason lies in the need for voice traffic to be free
of interruptions, which is in contrast to most data traffic, which is not seriously affected by
short periods of non-communication while switching between Wi-Fi and mobile networks. Such
periods of silence in a voice call are unacceptable though.

This document aims at describing Wi-Fi Calling without going deep into the technology but
rather focus on the pros and cons viewed from various perspectives:

• User perspective
• Operator perspective
• OTT3 perspective
• Handset manufacturer perspective

1
Wi-Fi Calling refers to the ability to make voice calls on a Wi-Fi network using a mobile phone’s native dialler
and similarly receive voice calls on a Wi-Fi network when being dialled on one’s mobile number as defined
by the industry organisations 3GPP and GSMA. Sometimes the term Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) is also used to
describe Wi-Fi Calling, but VoWiFi normally applies more widely to any voice call made on a Wi-Fi network, i.e.
both Wi-Fi Calling and OTT voice calls on Wi-Fi are VoWiFi. Therefore, Wi-Fi Calling is sometimes referred to as
“next generation” Voice over Wi-Fi.
2 Source: Data on Android handsets from App Annie September 2015.
3
OTT is short for ”Over The Top”, in the meaning that OTT services are services, which are carried on mobile
networks, offering services similar or complementary to the services offered by the mobile network operator,
but out of the operator’s control.

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2
WHAT IS WI-FI CALLING (NON-TECHNICAL)?
Wi-Fi Calling is a term used to describe the ability to make a call from a mobile phone’s native
dialler without the user needing to know if the mobile phone is currently using the mobile
network or an available Wi-Fi network to carry the call. This is very similar to the various bearer
technologies, often referred to as 2G, 3G and 4G, which a mobile phone switches seamlessly
between without requiring user intervention.

Until now, non-native diallers such as Skype, Viber, WhatsApp to name a few (called OTT apps),
have all used their own dialling system independent of the dialling system built into the mobile
phones these apps run on, i.e. the OTT apps are completely independent from the mobile phones’
native dialers.

+46 12-123 45 67

Wi-Fi Calling comprises software embedded in mobile phones, which seamlessly handles voice
call setup on either the mobile network or an available Wi-Fi Network in such a way that the user
do not need to know anything about which network is being used to carry the voice call. Typically,
an icon in the display indicates whether the call is on Wi-Fi or not but this is purely informative
and no action is required from the user.

This means that voice calls can be made on available Wi-Fi networks in locations where
it was previously not possible due to lack of mobile network coverage or in high traffic
density areas, where mobile network capacity is sometimes saturated.

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3 OVERVIEW OF THE TECHNOLOGY PARTS

In a pre-VoLTE4 mobile network, all voice calls are handled as Circuit Switched (CS) calls on 2G
and 3G bearer technologies (see Figure 1). Data can be carried on 4G (LTE), 3G or 2G bearer
technologies depending on availability.

PSTN
Mobile
Core

Circuit Switched
(CS) voice

2G/3G LTE RAN Wi-Fi RAN

Used only
Voice for data

2G/3G Wi-Fi
and LTE

Figure 1: Voice calls in a mobile network without VoLTE and Wi-Fi Calling

If we consider a mobile network and a mobile handset, which supports VoLTE then the introduction
of Wi-Fi Calling is relatively straight-forward. This is because a VoLTE call and a Wi-Fi call is broken
into the same IP packets and the main difference between a Wi-Fi call and a VoLTE call is the
bearer technology used to carry the IP traffic of the call.

This makes it a relatively easy implementation in the network to change the bearer of a call
from a Wi-Fi call to a VoLTE call and vice versa. The call transfers between Wi-Fi and VoLTE are
instantaneous and without interruption.

4
VoLTE = Voice over LTE (LTE is sometimes referred to as 4G) being the technology used to carry a voice call in
the LTE layer of a mobile network. VoLTE calls are IP packet-based as opposed to circuit-switched calls used in
2G and 3G networks.

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Figure 2 shows how a VoLTE-enabled network with Wi-Fi Calling can carry voice as either Circuit
Switched calls but also as VoLTE and Wi-Fi calls in the same network.

PSTN
IMS Core
3GPP
AAA
Mobile
Core ePDG INTERNET

CS voice VoLTE Wi-Fi Calling

2G/3G LTE RAN Wi-Fi RAN

Voice
Voice (VoLTE) Voice
(Circuit Switched) (Wi-Fi Calling)

2G/3G Wi-Fi
and LTE

Figure 2: Voice calls in a mobile network with Circuit Switched, VoLTE and Wi-Fi Calling

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Figure 3 shows the call flow from the handset to the mobile network core for both a VoLTE call
and a Wi-Fi Calling call. A Wi-Fi Calling call reaches a so-called ePDG gateway, which terminates
the IPsec tunnel and establishes a new tunnel connection to the Packet Gateway (P-GW). Apart
from the ePDG, a mobile operator needs to add a 3GPP AAA, which authenticates and
authorises users for the Wi-Fi Calling service, to support Wi-Fi Calling assuming that the
IMS core is already present.

A mobile operator can choose to add the network capabilities necessary to support Wi-Fi Calling
based on a “best of breed”-principle or based on a “one stop shop”-principle. The relatively
strict standardisation of mobile networks makes it possible to add components offering new
functionality without all components being from the same vendor. A “best of breed”-principle can
result in an optimal solution from a performance and functionality point of view with the buyer
more in the front seat whereas a “one stop shop”-principle can result in a simpler integration but
also less functionality at any given time and a commercial risk associated with putting all eggs in
one basket.

LTE Voice over LTE (VoLTE)

S-GW P-GW IMS Core Circuit

Wi-Fi Calling Switched
LTE RAN

Wi-Fi
4
IMS with support for
ePDG Wi-Fi Calling and VoLTE
1 Wi-Fi RAN
connecting to PSTN
Native support:
• Wi-Fi Calling Wi-Fi Calling
• VoLTE 5
• Call Transfer
2 3 3GPP AAA
Wi-Fi Calling <- -> VoLTE Secure IPSec tunnel ePDG terminating Authenticating and
going through ANY IPSec and connecting Authorizing the
Same Dialer Wi-Fi Network. with P-GW. Wi-Fi Calling service

Figure 3 Adding Wi-Fi Calling to a VoLTE-capable network.

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4 WI-FI CALLING FROM A USER PERSPECTIVE

As mentioned, making voice calls on a mobile phone over a Wi-Fi network is nothing new. What
is new, though, is that it’s happening seamlessly independent of any third party app. This also
means that calls can be placed to anyone without the recipient needing a certain app installed
on the mobile device. A person is called by dialling his/her mobile number - not some app-unique
User ID - and the phone will ring regardless of app presence and network coverage type. The
keyword for Wi-Fi Calling from a user perspective is “seamless”.

Users who are adept at using OTT apps for voice calling may not necessarily see native Wi-Fi
Calling as a big thing. Where native Wi-Fi Calling does offer a valuable advantage over the OTT
alternative, though, is in the area of reachability. When receiving a call in a location where the
mobile network has poor coverage or capacity, native Wi-Fi Calling offers the possibility to receive
calls when the mobile phone is connected to an available Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi Calling offers you
to be reachable on your normal phone number in more places than without native Wi-Fi
Calling.

Some people maintain a landline in their home if the indoor coverage from the mobile network
is poor. With Wi-Fi Calling, such landline subscriptions can be cancelled saving users money and
trouble of informing people of several numbers on which they are reachable depending on where
they are.

Wi-Fi Calling is designed to offer seamless functionality so that users do not have to even be
aware that Wi-Fi Calling is active on the mobile device. There are some limitations though and
users will have to accept some new “quirks” when Wi-Fi Calling is active.

For instance, the underlying Wi-Fi technology does not support handovers between Wi-Fi Access
Points or Wi-Fi networks5. Hence, voice calls carried on a Wi-Fi bearer may drop when the
user is moving and there’s no mobile network to pick up where the Wi-Fi signal was lost – even
if there are other Wi-Fi networks, which could handle the call.

A prerequisite for Wi-Fi Calling to work is that the mobile device is connected to a Wi-Fi network.
As mentioned earlier, users consume on average more than 80% of their total data consumption
while being connected to Wi-Fi networks. This leads to a reasonable assumption that most
people are connected to Wi-Fi while at their home and most probably also at their work
location. For the average person, this should represent around 75% of the time they are
awake.

To increase the Wi-Fi connection rate further, a user can subscribe to a wide-coverage commercial
Wi-Fi network, which enables devices to connect seamlessly and securely to Wi-Fi networks
in a wide geographical area. Some mobile network operators offer such Wi-Fi network
access as part of a mobile subscription6, either through their own Wi-Fi network or as a
partnership with one or more Wi-Fi network operators and aggregators7.

5
Some vendors have introduced proprietary algorithms to enable some kind of handover between Wi-Fi Access
Points or Wi-Fi networks but these algorithms are not standardised as opposed to handover algorithms built
into standards-based mobile networks.
6
Examples of mobile operators, who offer such Wi-Fi network access are AT&T (United States), Singtel (Singa-
pore), Telus (Canada), Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan) and Telia (Sweden).
7
Examples of Wi-Fi network operators and aggregators are Boingo and iPass.

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Users may also have a hard time understanding – and accepting – that Wi-Fi Calling is only
available on devices with a SIM card. This is because a voice caller needs to be authenticated8
in the mobile network and this is done through the SIM card even if there’s no mobile network
coverage. Some users of OTT apps have become accustomed to being able to make voice calls
through an OTT app on virtually any Wi-Fi capable device e.g. a Wi-Fi-only tablet. This will not be
possible with Wi-Fi Calling. Some network infrastructure vendors such as Aptilo offer proprietary
solutions to handle Wi-Fi Calling on non-SIM devices and Apple has introduced a way to authorise
a non-SIM iPad for Wi-Fi Calling through an iPhone, which has Wi-Fi Calling enabled, but none
of these solutions are standardised.

Similarly, users may not understand or accept why some operators don’t allow Wi-Fi Calling
outside the home country. There can be various reasons for an operator to choose its policy on
this matter, but it doesn’t mean that users will understand it. If an operator doesn’t allow Wi-Fi
Calling to be used abroad this plays right into the hands of the OTT players, who normally don’t
impose such restrictions.

Users may not think about the security of their communication every day, but for some users this is
a very important topic. Communication security also receives a great deal of media attention and
is as such an important and sensitive topic. Wi-Fi Calling is deemed a secure communication
technology in the sense that eavesdropping is not possible. All Wi-Fi Calling communication is
handled as IP packets on an encrypted communication channel (using IPsec tunnel technology),
which is considered to offer secure communication even if the device is on an insecure network.

Most people may not worry too much about the ability of the local Emergency Services to know
where you are, until you need to be found and rescued somehow. Native Wi-Fi Calling do not
offer the same technological possibilities to pinpoint a caller’s location as a normal voice call
does. Depending on local regulations, operators can choose to block Emergency Calls on Wi-
Fi altogether or offer to transmit a user-settable address location – typically the address where
they make most of their Wi-Fi calls – to the Emergency Services. But there are currently no
standardised way of transmitting a Wi-Fi caller’s exact location - this is no different than
when using OTT apps to dial Emergency Services though.

8
To be authenticated means that the mobile device is identified through its unique identifier being the identity
of the SIM card in the device. This is used for service management and charging purposes as well as to prevent
misuse.

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5 WI-FI CALLING FROM AN OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE

Operators of mobile networks are used to be in control of their networks and the traffic flowing
through the networks from the handset device in one end to where the traffic - be it voice or
data - is handed over to external networks in the other end. With the introduction of Wi-Fi Calling
this end-to-end control is no longer possible for voice calls due to the un-controlled element
that is external Wi-Fi networks to which handsets are connected. Operators are at the mercy
of the quality of Wi-Fi networks, which are sometimes set up by individuals, who have no clue
about how to set up a quality network with minimum interference and maximum performance.
This means that call quality is to a large extent outside the operators’ control. This is no
different from how it has been for data traffic to and from Wi-Fi connected devices for years,
though – the news is that now also voice calls are carried on un-controlled networks when going
to and from mobile handsets.

Operators are often using field measurements as one part of their call quality optimization and
while this - in theory – is also possible with Wi-Fi Calling, it will be near impossible in practice
as the vast majority of native Wi-Fi calls will happen indoor in private properties where field
measurements are normally not performed. Furthermore, the radio environment of Wi-Fi
networks is not static, meaning that many Wi-Fi routers and access points will change frequencies
from time to time based on the measured interference situation. This means that call quality in
the same location can be very different depending on the time the call is performed.

However, although operators lose control of some of the factors of call quality when implementing
Wi-Fi Calling, technological advancements of Wi-Fi mean that despite the inherent flaws of the
technology, Wi-Fi offer significant capacity headroom so that call quality in many cases is “saved”
by the capacity headroom and some proprietary as well as standardised technologies in Wi-Fi
equipment9. There are no performance guarantees in Wi-Fi networks yet, though, and
operators will simply have to accept this.

What operators can do to gain more control of the call quality in Wi-Fi Calling is to build Wi-Fi
networks themselves or partner with Wi-Fi network operators, whose business it is to
run high-quality Wi-Fi networks.

In private households, many operators are already supplying the Wi-Fi equipment used
as part of a fixed broadband subscription, which offers some degree of control compared to the
otherwise free market of Wi-Fi equipment and dodgy installations and parameter setups.

In private households, where an operator is already supplying the Wi-Fi router as part of a fixed
broadband installation, an increasing number of operators offer to configure such “homespots”
to provide open or semi-open access for all the operator’s customers. This means that these
“homespots” form a more or less continuous Wi-Fi coverage area where an operator’s
customers all have free Wi-Fi access as part of their subscription. An example of this is Ziggo
in the Netherlands, where some 2 million so-called “WifiSpots” in private households form a
large-area network of free Wi-Fi access for Ziggo mobile customers10.

9
E.g. Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) Support, which recognises and prioritises audio, video and voice applications.
10
Ziggo is a fixed network operator but now also operates as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) on
Vodafone’s mobile network in the Netherlands. Ziggo and Vodafone have planned a 50/50 Joint Venture
merger, which is yet to be approved.

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Some of the abovementioned networks of “homespots” are also

being linked internationally to provide an international large-area Wi-Fi
network. Fon is such an international Wi-Fi network of “homespots”
with currently more than 18 million “homespots” providing coverage
in 16 countries.

For corporate office buildings, Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) and various types of indoor
basestations have been used at great expense. Wi-Fi Calling now offers comparable or better
coverage from Wi-Fi networks already installed in most corporate office buildings,
which offers saving opportunities for operators. Not many operators have offered solutions
for better indoor coverage in private residencies due to cost of femtocells and similar solutions.
However, as most private households already have a Wi-Fi network, Wi-Fi Calling offers an
opportunity for mobile operators to offer landline-like availability on a mobile service.

As a bonus, mobile operators get a strong case for fixed-to-mobile substitution for
corporate as well as private customers, which they have struggled with for decades due to
problems providing sufficient indoor coverage at reasonable expense. As modern building materials
become more and more difficult to penetrate with radio waves from the outside, the preferred
solution is to build coverage inside a building. This strong case for fixed-to-mobile substitution may
cause some debate internally at integrated operators with both mobile and fixed service offerings.
With better indoor coverage the operator may lose fixed customers, who can now get sufficient
indoor coverage on their mobile device.

Another bonus of better indoor coverage with Wi-Fi Calling is an overall improved Call
Completion Rate (CCR)11. It is generally accepted that improved CCR leads to increased revenue,
so despite that Wi-Fi Calling may not lead to direct revenue increases, the improvements in CCR
leads to indirect revenue gains and better customer satisfaction.

Users of OTT apps to make voice calls on mobile phones are used to such calls being free of
charge – or at least perceived to be free of charge12. Wi-Fi Calling allows for charging of voice
calls depending on the operator policy but as more and more operators around the world are
moving to unlimited voice calls in most plans, it is expected that most operators will treat calls via
Wi-Fi Calling as any normal voice call, i.e. at no extra charge in most cases. Below is a clip from
T-Mobile’s (United States) webpage with charging information for Wi-Fi Calling, where it’s stated
that Wi-Fi calls are charged the same way as normal voice calls for customers on the mobile
network on T-Mobile’s Simple Choice Plans:

FOR SIMPLE CHOISE PLANS, WI-FI CALLING USES

MONTHLY PLAN MINUTES FOR THE FOLLOWING:

• Calls made from the US to US numbers

• Calls made from the US to international
numbers (subject to international rates)
• Calls made from outside the US to US
numbers (not charged roaming)

11
CCR is a metric describing the ratio of all attempted calls in the network, which ended correctly. Calls, which
can’t reach the recipient, e.g. due to lack of indoor coverage as well as calls, which are terminated erroneously,
e.g. due to lack of coverage during the call, all count negatively in CCR.
12
OTT voice calls on Wi-Fi are in principle free if the Wi-Fi access is free but users are charged the applicable data
traffic rate for OTT voice calls if they are placed while using the mobile network data service. In any case the
applicable terms and conditions apply and “free” may not necessarily be “free” as such.

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The upcoming EU regulation aimed at significantly reducing roaming costs inside EU, is yet
another factor for operators to consider when setting Wi-Fi Calling tariffs. Past reasons for using
OTT apps to make Wi-Fi calls to save roaming costs may soon be history.

One scenario, where users of OTT apps can save significantly on call costs compared to mobile
dialling, is when making voice calls from abroad, i.e. in a roaming situation. Operators have
applied different policies on whether or not they allow Wi-Fi Calling from a Wi-Fi network outside
the user’s home country. As users of OTT apps are used to making free voice calls over Wi-Fi
even when travelling abroad, some operators apply a policy allowing Wi-Fi calls from abroad
on the same terms as if the calls were made in the home country. Other operators don’t allow
any Wi-Fi calls from Wi-Fi networks outside the home country. In any case, Wi-Fi calls are not
allowed in countries where such calls are prohibited by law13. Wi-Fi Calling offer operators the
possibility to combat OTT players while keeping more control of the user and the user
experience compared to when OTT services are used.

Some of the pioneering network operators in terms of launching Wi-Fi Calling around the world
are:

• 3 (Hong Kong)
• Bell (Canada)
• EE (United Kingdom)
• Rogers (Canada)
• SmarTone (Hong Kong)
• Sprint (United States)
• Swisscom (Switzerland)
• T-Mobile (United States)
• Zain (Saudi Arabia)

13
Voice calls via Wi-Fi networks are not allowed in e.g. Australia, China, Cuba, North Korea, India, Iran, Singa-
pore, Sudan and Syria.

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Only few details about the uptake and performance of Wi-Fi Calling have been released by now,
but below are some of the statements operators have made publically about Wi-Fi Calling:

T-Mobile (United States) stated in its Fourth Quarter

2015 Earnings Call that 50% of call minutes are over LTE
and 5% are over Wi-Fi. When interpreting these numbers
it’s important to understand that only a subset of handsets
support VoLTE and probably a smaller subset support Wi-Fi
Calling. In addition, it’s unclear how a handset makes the
selection of whether to use a Wi-Fi network or a mobile
network to make a call14, which is a very important factor
in understanding the traffic distribution between Wi-Fi
and mobile networks.

EE (United Kingdom) states in a support article that 84%

of iPhone customers who replied to a survey recommend EE
Wi-Fi Calling to their friends and family. The timing of the
mentioned survey is unknown and there is no mention of
whether the 7500 respondents forms a representative group
of customers to draw conclusions from.

SURVEY
In a recent survey customers were asked if they
recommend EE Wi-Fi Calling to their friends and family?
84% of iPhone customers who replied to our survey
recommend Wi-Fi Calling. 7500 customers responded.

14
In iOS, the mobile operator decides whether Wi-Fi is used only when there’s no mobile coverage or Wi-Fi is
used when it’s available. In Android it’s unclear how the preference is set.

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6 WI-FI CALLING FROM AN OTT PERSPECTIVE

The success of OTT apps like Skype, Viber and WhatsApp is partly due to their ability to offer
voice calls over Wi-Fi and especially that such voice calls are free in most scenarios. With native
Wi-Fi Calling potentially offering free voice calls too and improved convenience e.g. in
terms of reachability, OTT players are facing a threat to the success of their services.

In addition, the use of OTT apps will generally cause increased battery consumption compared
to Wi-Fi Calling, which is embedded close to the OS core. Wi-Fi Calling also offer better security
through encryption and authentication and users can use their normal native dialler instead
of a dedicated dialler per OTT app. In general, both Wi-Fi Calling and OTT apps offer better
voice quality than normal mobile voice with Wi-Fi Calling offering the best voice quality in most
scenarios.

OTT apps still have some advantages though. Not all advantages mentioned below are valid for
all such OTT apps but they’re representative for the majority.

As mentioned, in most scenarios voice calls on Wi-Fi via an OTT app are free – and for most
OTT players this was the initial value proposition to users when the service first launched. Voice
calls via Wi-Fi Calling may be free or charged as normal voice calls or have a different
charging policy applied. This is decided by the mobile operator and may differ between
countries. OTT apps in general have global charging policies, which means that charging is not
different between countries. Similarly, voice calls via OTT apps are normally not charged any
roaming fees – operators with Wi-Fi Calling may or may not choose to charge roaming fees (or
may even prevent roaming calls at large).

Most OTT players operate internationally and some globally. This gives an advantage in terms
of branding, which can be done globally rather than in a country – as an example, most people
in the world have heard about Skype but mainly people in France have heard about SFR.

OTT players also have an advantage in that they in principle don’t need to know a
user’s mobile number. In some apps it’s an advantage if you have a person’s mobile number
but typically it’s not a requirement to use the service. For many people, handing out one’s mobile
number is a step too far on the privacy protection ladder and they’re more comfortable by just
being known by a user name on a service.

As mentioned earlier, Wi-Fi Calling (as standardised) is only possible from devices with a SIM card
to ensure proper authentication in the mobile network. OTT apps do not have this restriction
though and will work on non-SIM devices too. Authentication for OTT services does not
require a SIM card but uses e.g. a user’s password for the service instead.

And one shouldn’t forget that some OTT apps offer additional functionality like chat and
video communication, which is often better integrated than the equivalent standard services
in mobile devices. 

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7
WI-FI CALLING FROM A HANDSET MANUFACTURER PERSPECTIVE
As Wi-Fi Calling is a standardised technology, operators and handset manufacturers have been
able to implement the technology at a pace they saw as beneficial to their business. However, as
one will not work without the other, it becomes another chicken&egg-dilemma in the industry
where operators do not see the need to launch, as there are not enough handset support and
handset manufacturers are not in a hurry to launch as only few networks support the feature.

Traditionally, handset manufacturers are consumer-driven and need to introduce new features
and improved specifications with every new high-end product launch. There is, though, a certain
level of holding back in the sense that a new high-end handset does not necessarily feature
all available technological advancements. This is because handset manufacturers think ahead
and therefore have already planned the next couple of high-end releases featuring other new
technological advancements. This type of staged introductions supposedly increases awareness
through more frequent product launches, which should lead to improved sales performance.

As with some other features too, it takes Apple to generate awareness. From the point
in 2014 when Apple first introduced support for Wi-Fi Calling in iOS15, the public awareness
increased and users started to learn and understand the benefits of Wi-Fi Calling, which then
created pull for operators to support Wi-Fi Calling.

Apple must also be hailed at this point in time as the handset manufacturer with the
least cumbersome access to get Wi-Fi Calling on a handset. Supported Apple handsets
can be user-upgraded to support Wi-Fi Calling through the normal upgrade process whereas
Android and Windows Phone handsets require modifications by the network operator to support
Wi-Fi Calling. Apple controls provisioning of iOS devices whereas the Android ecosystem relies
on operators to perform provisioning. As an example, EE (United Kingdom) writes this on their

“
Wi-Fi Calling webpage:

EE (UNITED KINGDOM)
Wi-Fi Calling is supported on iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s and later
models. Android and Windows devices bought directly from EE
in one of our stores, online at ee.co.uk or through our telesales
team are also compatible. Android and Windows devices bought
“
from other retailers won’t be able to support Wi-Fi Calling.

The Android device landscape shows significant fragmentation

compared to iOS, with a wider and less coherent device composition
in terms of manufacturers, hardware specifications and software
versions. Wi-Fi Calling is currently only available on a few high-
end Android models with the recently launched Orange Neva 80
as a notable exception. Despite an expected retail price of less than
200EUR the Orange Neva 80 supports Wi-Fi Calling (and VoLTE).

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iOS is the operating system used in iPhones and iPads.

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SEAMLESS NEXT GENERATION WI-FI CALLING [MAY 2016]

ABOUT TEFFICIENT
Tefficient is an international telco competitiveness specialist providing operators and suppliers
with analysis, benchmarks and consulting. Expertise in quad-play, data monetisation, customer
loyalty, acquisition vs. retention, Wi-Fi business models and higher margin equipment sales.

www.tefficient.com

ABOUT APTILO
Aptilo Networks is a leading provider of carrier-class systems to manage data services with
advanced functions for authentication, policy control and charging.

We help service providers manage Wi-Fi hotspots and enable them to deliver attractive B2B Wi-Fi
services tailored to the unique needs of venues, stadiums and businesses.

The Aptilo Service Management Platform™ (SMP) boasts pre-integrated functions to maximize
functionality and fast-track deployments while minimizing impact on existing systems. It has
become synonymous with Wi-Fi service management and Wi-Fi offload in large-scale deployments
with 100+ operators in more than 70 countries.

With over fifteen years of experience and AAA as our core business, we know the impact of
selecting a vendor agnostic 3GPP AAA, such as Aptilo SMP, with additional “smarts” that
extends beyond the standards. One example of such functionality is the interaction with iOS
entitlement servers for onboarding individual iPhone devices to the VoLTE and VoWiFi service.

Aptilo’s multi-vendor support allows operators to select the “best-of-breed” components for
their Wi-Fi Calling service. At the same time they will get the world’s leading platform for carrier-
class Wi-Fi service management, the Aptilo SMP, which also enables award-winning Wi-Fi data
services to subscribers and B2B customers.

LEARN MORE:
Aptilo’s Wi-Fi Calling solution - www.aptilo.com/wi-fi-calling

Aptilo SMP Wi-Fi Calling™ - www.aptilo.com/aptilo-wi-fi-calling-server-3gpp-aaa

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