Just like its name, Wi-Fi Calling is a feature that enables users to make calls and send SMS through their Wi-Fi network in situations where their usual cellular connection is not reachable. This particular feature might make its way to Malaysia soon as Sebastian Barros, the Vice President of Solutions for Ericsson Malaysia and Sri Lanka has revealed that a Malaysian telco is already testing Wi-Fi Calling with the company.
In fact, Sebastian expects that major telcos in Malaysia will offer Wi-Fi Calling to their customers by end of 2016. It is not the first time that Ericsson has talked about Wi-Fi Calling in Malaysia though as the company has previously demonstrated the feature during the celebration of Ericsson Malaysia’s 50th anniversary earlier this year:
Sebastian stated that the local telcos need to have Internal Protocol-ready networks before they are able to offer Wi-Fi Calling to consumers. At the same though, these telcos apparently already working on it and while the feature required compatible devices, he pointed out that newer smartphones should be able to support Wi-Fi Calling.
Despite all these interesting points, Sebastian didn’t actually name the Malaysian telco that did the Wi-Fi Calling pilot test with Ericsson. Since 2016 is not far away, guess the telco will reveal itself in few months’ time.
(Source: Digital News Asia. Video: New Straits Times. Image: T-Mobile)
