Bulgaria's Max to Offer New High Definition Voice Services

Bulgarian telecommunications opeartor Max has successfully demonstrated high definition voice and video services over its commercially available 4G LTE network, the first of its kind in Bulgaria.

Max announced Monday that it would extend its product range to include high quality voice products.

"We are now at a turning point in the development of voice services,'' CEO Peter Covell said, as cited in a media statement of the company. ''Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is to voice products what high definition video was to standard TV services. It is crystal clear and you think that the person you are speaking to is in the same room."

Max is developing international partnerships that will allow roaming on VoLTE.

As the number of handsets with VoLTE capacity increases (such as the Apple iPhone 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the LG G2) the service is expected to grow dramatically.

Infonetics research indicates that while the number of VoLTE networks in early 2014 was only eight, this number should have reached 38 with over 50 million subscribers by the end.

In May 2014, the company launched the first commercially operating in Bulgaria 4G LTE network, which is currently available in 9 cities (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Ruse, Sliven, Pleven and Bansko), thus covering approximately 50% of the urban population in the country.