Verizon Chief Technology Officer Tony Melone has confirmed that the company’s technologists placed a live, IMS-based VoLTE (Voice over LTE) call over its commercial network on Wednesday morning. The initial call was made yesterday using a LG Revolution 4G smartphone. The initial call was 33 seconds in duration. During additional calls made that morning, the technologists were able to browse the Web and use other data services while participating in voice calls.

“Today is another proof point that the LTE ecosystem is alive, healthy and thriving. VoLTE will quickly become the global standard for delivering voice over LTE networks,” Melone.

“The GSMA launched a voice over LTE initiative a year ago with the aim of driving a single, industry-wide solution for voice and messaging services via IP,” said Alex Sinclair, chief technology officer at the GSMA. 

“We commend Verizon Wireless for helping to make this a reality by conducting the world’s first voice call over a commercial LTE network. The progress made by the GSMA, its members, and in particular Verizon Wireless, to enable this functionality will play a crucial role in driving strong momentum and vast economies of scale for LTE all over the world,” he added.

Subsequent test calls lasted more than 10 minutes. Technologists browsed the Web, participated in chats and downloaded applications from the Android Market™ while on a voice call. The LG Revolution smartphones were running on the Android 2.2 platform.

Verizon Wireless plans to enhance VoLTE with rich communications services and optimize performance on its commercial 4G LTE network during 2011. Commercial services are expected to be available in 2012.