Ericsson has said on Friday it together with Qualcomm has successfully handed over a voice call from LTE to WCDMA on an end-to-end network achieved on December 23, 2011.

It said until this point, the main use of LTE has been for mobile data traffic. However operators are starting to evolve their networks to support voice and SMS over LTE (based on VoLTE GSMA IR.92), and prepare for introduction of new globally interoperable multimedia services on LTE smartphones.

One particular challenge to operators is to ensure that users do not experience interruptions of ongoing voice calls when they move out of LTE coverage.

Handover of a voice call from LTE to WCDMA was successfully established on December 23 last year using Ericsson end-to-end network infrastructure and an LTE/3G multimode smartphone chipset from Qualcomm.

“By accomplishing this advanced LTE handover technology together with Qualcomm, we now ensure that operators can meet consumers’ expectations on a high-quality voice over LTE service. Operators will be able to maintain their quality brand for their voice business when they launch voice over LTE”, said Johan Wibergh, Head of Business Unit Networks, Ericsson, says: SRVCC enables operators to deploy voice over LTE, seamlessly handing over to existing GSM and WCDMA installed base as needed, to provide a robust voice service with global reach to their LTE smartphone users.

The handover mechanism is supported on Ericsson’s end-to-end products and solutions; LTE/WCDMA/GSM RAN, Evolved Packet Core, MSC and IMS to work towards VoLTE enabled LTE smartphones.

The first operators are expected to begin deploying SRVCC during 2012, followed by more global commercial launches in 2013.