Ntel makes first test call

NATCOM Development and Investment Limited (trading as ‘Ntel’), the company that acquired the core assets of NiTel/MTel (in liquidation) made its first Voice over LTE call in Lagos yesterday.

The test VoLTE call was made at 3.30pm at the company’s new Tier III data centre located in Lagos. VoLTE calls are enabled over a carrier’s high-speed data network instead of voice network.

The VoLTE call was completed in partnership with Original Equipment Manufacturers L M Ericsson of Sweden and Sony Electronics of Japan. This follows Ntel’s first data call on January 18, 2016 and its first SIP voice call on the same date. Ntel will now progress work with Nigeria’s other mobile operators and international partners to perform cross-network VoLTE calls.

The successful test call, according to Ntel CEO, Kamar Abass is, “confirmation that the key network elements are now in place to support the full commercial launch of premium integrated voice, video and data services over 4G/LTE.”