India's Bharti Airtel has expanded its VoLTE footprint with the launch of services in the telecoms circle of Kolkata.
The operator is offering the service at no additional charge as part of existing prepaid or postpaid services. Calls will be billed as per the existing plan or credit pack's voice call allocations or charges.
Airtel announced that over 100 popular 4G smartphones are now compatible with the operator's VoLTE service, including every iPhone from the iPhone 6, numerous Samsung models and multiple handsets from Xiaomi, One Plus, Micromax, Oppo, Vivo, Karbonn, Lava and HMD Global (Nokia).
VoLTE calls will automatically fall back to 2G or 3G in case of non-availability of the 4G network.
“We are delighted to extend our VoLTE footprint to Kolkata with the launch of our services today,” Airtel CEO for West Bengal and Odisha Sameer Anjaria said.
“Complementing our world class 4G network, VoLTE will add to the customer experience and our range of smartphone offerings.”
Airtel first launched VoLTE services last year to allow it to better compete against Reliance Jio Infocomm, which shook up the Indian telecoms market with its strategy of offering free voice calls and SMS and only charging for data.
The introduction of VoLTE forms part of Airtel's Project Next, a more than $300 million investment aimed at transforming the operator into a digital service provider.