Voice calling is finally making its way onto 5G

US operators including Verizon and AT&T first launched 5G networking technology in 2018. Since then they’ve been working to expand and improve those networks.

Now, roughly five years later, they’re starting to push one of their core services onto 5G: voice calling.

“AT&T is testing VoNR [Voice over 5G New Radio] in the lab and plans to move to early field validation later this year,” a representative wrote in response to recent questions from Light Reading.

Verizon officials didn’t respond to questions on the topic, but FierceWireless reported recently that the operator isn’t setting a public timeline for when it might offer VoNR.

Meanwhile, both T-Mobile and Dish Network have reported substantial progress in putting voice calling onto their own respective 5G networks. For example, T-Mobile recently said it is expanding the availability of the VoNR service it first launched last year, with the goal of providing it to 100 million people “in the coming months.” And Dish’s Charlie Ergen said earlier this month the company would offer VoNR across the “vast majority” of its 5G network later this year.

To be clear, there’s no real rush to put most voice calls onto 5G because T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon all operate 4G networks that can handle the service just fine. The situation is slightly different for Dish because it does not operate a 4G network; however, the company has MVNO agreements with both AT&T and T-Mobile that can satisfy its calling needs.

To read the complete article, visit Light Reading.