Vodacom has announced a major milestone in telecommunications by successfully placing South Africa’s first native voice call over a 5G network, known as Voice over New Radio (VoNR). The call was made using a test network, and the company hinted that the technology could soon be rolled out to its live consumer network, although no specific timeline was provided.
This development marks a significant evolution from Voice over LTE (VoLTE), which was introduced by South African mobile operators nearly a decade ago. Currently, even 5G-enabled smartphones revert to older technologies like 4G/LTE for voice calls. With VoNR, voice services can now be fully integrated into the 5G infrastructure, which has so far been used primarily for data transmission.
Vodacom highlighted the advantages of VoNR, stating that it offers faster call setup times, superior voice quality, and ultra-high-definition audio with reduced background noise. These improvements build on the benefits users experienced with VoLTE, such as quicker call connections and enhanced clarity.
The test call was made using a single packet core, a sophisticated setup that involves cloud orchestration, cloud-native applications, and significant network upgrades. This architecture is essential for enabling seamless voice services across multiple access technologies.
Additional benefits of VoNR include:
- Lower latency
- Improved battery life for devices
- Support for high-quality voice codecs
However, for consumers to experience VoNR, their devices must support both 5G and VoNR. Fortunately, many modern smartphones, including recent models from Apple and Samsung, are already compatible. Vodacom concluded by emphasizing that this successful test demonstrates the network’s readiness to deliver high-quality, uninterrupted voice services over next-generation infrastructure.
