U.S. carrier MetroPCS has announced commercial launch of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services and availability of VoLTE-capable handsets. MetroPCS is selling the new VoLTE-capable LG Connect 4G Android smartphone at select U.S. stores and will continue to roll out VoLTE services and phones in the coming weeks.

VoLTE also provides a foundational capability for future Rich Communication Services (RCS), that company plans to launch later this year.

The addition of VoLTE capabilities to MetroPCS' 4G LTE handsets will be transparent to consumers as they continue to enjoy all the voice and 4G LTE data services with which they are already familiar. Calls to and from the handset will use VoLTE, regardless of the handset or network used on the other end of the call.

MetroPCS was the first U.S. carrier to deploy a commercial 4G LTE network in September 2010 and has since built out its 4G LTE network to cover roughly 90 percent of its CDMA footprint.