Orange is to launch HD (High Definition) Voice nationwide for customers on its UK mobile network later this year.
The company says that with its crystal clear, superior sound quality, HD Voice will herald a new era for mobile communications and a new standard for the telecoms industry. HD Voice delivers excellent audio quality to mobile calls and will be available to Orange customers with a HD Voice-enabled handset. Orange says it is working with leading handset manufacturers on the development of devices to be rolled out later this year.
HD Voice uses the WB-AMR (Wideband Adaptive Multi-Rate) speech codec. This provides excellent audio quality due to a wider speech bandwidth of 50 – 7000Hz compared to the current narrowband speech codec of 300 – 3400Hz. As a result, the WB-AMR codec delivers significantly enhanced sound quality, while utilising the same network resources.
The launch follows two years of investment in the Orange mobile network with expansion and technology upgrades across large areas of the UK. Orange currently provides high speed 3G coverage to more than 93% of the UK's population, which it notes is more than any other UK operator.
 Orange is proud to be leading the industry into the next decade by announcing a new standard in voice innovation that will transform the mobile experience for customers in the UK, says Orange UK CEO, Tom Alexander. HD Voice really does inject a level of innovation into mobile phone calls, making it sound as if callers are actually in the same room. Once people have tried it, they wont want to go back.