Is VoIP on 5G networks the future of telecommunications?

Wireless VoIP is the next opportunity to seize in the future closer than we think. Of course, you can already use your mobile phones and enjoy real mobility with the 4G network, but the advent of 5G promises a clear technological breakthrough. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the present and the future of communications. Many companies are already taking advantage of VoIP and SIP technologies, not only to save money, but also to access the world of unified communication, ie the total convergence of voice and data networks. Basically, a phone call is no longer a separate and independent service, but an integral part of the data transfer via the computer network. According to many observers, the next step will be to integrate the benefits of such a model into the field of mobile data connectivity.

For those who already use a VoIP standard on the cloud , it is already established that phone calls can be easily managed on the move. However, the relative availability of mobile data bandwidth in rural areas remains a major hurdle. It is therefore reasonable to ask whether the use of wireless VoIP connectivity is really a technology that can be systematically adopted.

Current limitations of 3G and 4G

The main constraint is represented by the latency and jitter present on mobile data networks. These factors often negatively affect the quality of a wireless VoIP phone call by introducing noise into the audio band. The phenomenon is much more sensitive and frequent in suburban areas and areas of low coverage. Current and previous generations of mobile technologies (2G, 3G, 4G) have focused primarily on increasing network coverage, increasing the bandwidth available for data, and reducing latency. The goal has always been to improve "person-to-person" communication.

The opportunity of wireless VoIP with 5G

The next challenge for the next generation of 5G mobile devices is to improve communication between people. But to personal communication, we will increasingly add a new network of billions of connected Internet objects, the IoT, a phenomenon that is disproportionately large and is intended to interconnect the world more efficiently.

The real revolution will therefore not be in the only increases in bandwidth and coverage, but in the substantial differentiation of bandwidth, latency, capacity and reliability of transport depending on the scenario. application.

The different types of services and their heterogeneity require a new technology capable of optimizing the resources according to the application used. It is no longer an upgrade of portable devices but the ability to dynamically reallocate resources and optimize existing technologies.

With this in mind, it will be necessary to completely rethink how data is processed and transported. We are talking here about the "control and service layer" that will lead to the maturity of the concepts of SDN (software-defined network) and NFV (virtualization of network functions). This makes 5G the first native NFV / SDN technology. In addition, 5G technology is a technology whose genesis goes hand in hand with the development of the fiber optic network, the fixed and mobile networks being intended for an ever greater integration for the benefit of new services.

In short, here are the main features of the 5G:

Bitrate 10 times higher than 4G, with peaks of up to 10 Gigabit / s
Significant reduction in latency and jitter
A natively "virtual" technology
Energy savings for transmission equipment and mobile devices
The combination of these factors enables new business scenarios within IoT, such as those related to public safety innovation, smart mobility, the automotive industry with autonomous cars, and entertainment field with massive use of 3D and augmented reality.

VoIP on 5G networks

How does VoIP fit into this context? Voice over IP requires real-time data transmission without distortion due to transport. Therefore, it is necessary to guarantee the following elements: a rather low minimum dedicated band, a very low latency, the absence or the presence of a very weak jitter.

It is quite obvious whether these VoIP prerogatives will be respected. Doubt is legal, because the massive use of VoIP would be a direct competition with the traditional flows of mobile telephony.

However, we pointed out at the beginning of the article that, in the world of wired data networks, telephone calls no longer constitute a dedicated service and are distinct from data transmissions. The distinction is only at the marketing and billing level. Therefore, if telephony and data converge on the same IP channel, it is reasonable to expect the same thing to happen gradually in mobile telephony.

This is certainly not an immediate operation, but it is possible to make an assumption about the transition phases that will materialize in the years to come:

The benefits of 5G for wireless VoIP telephony will be immediately visible thanks to a substantial reduction in latency.
The mobile data offer available in mobile phone contracts will gradually increase. It is also conceivable that the traffic restrictions generated will be eliminated in favor of a flat rate. It is clear that at this stage the limitation will no longer be related to the quantity but to the quality of the data transmitted. Nothing different from what is happening today with the classic Internet.

The objective to be achieved in terms of modernization of data transport infrastructures, fixed and mobile, will be the full data / voice convergence, with the possibility of using the same telephone numbers from fixed and mobile IP lines.
Will it be a reality or a utopia? The answer to this question is very simple: technically, all that is described would be feasible in the very near future.

Wireless VoIP technologies are mature and there are no substantial limitations from this point of view. At this stage, it is necessary to wait for the introduction and dissemination of new services, but these are above all commercial choices of operators and investments in infrastructure.