News
Orange Makes Mobile Conversations Easier to Hear
(02 Sep 2010, BWCS Staff)French-owned mobile operator Orange has become the first UK company to launch so-called High Definition voice services. The new system, which is said to improve phone calls by filtering out background noise and "hissing", is designed to provide the caller with a "crystal clear" sound. Orange also claims that the technology can "eliminate the perceived distance between callers, making it easier to hear the emotions in people's voices". The service will initially work only on the Orange 3G network between HD-enabled handsets.
The service has already been rolled out in France, Moldova and Armenia. Orange has previously tested on its Bristol, Southampton and Reading networks in the UK and hailed it a "huge advance for the customer experience".
According to an Orange spokesman, the new service is designed to make the caller feel he or she is talking to someone in the same room. In fact, the company claims that subscribers will be able to make calls from football matches or concerts and be heard very easily. However, the spokesman did not comment on how easily the person calling from the venue would be able to hear the replies.
In March of this year, European regulators gave the green light to the proposed merger between Orange and T-Mobile in the UK. As a result there is little to stop the creation of a new giant in the British mobile market. The pair were given the official blessing of the European Commission - having agreed to certain concessions. The decision means that the UK's own Office of Fair Trading was not given the chance to review the merger.
The new combined operator will boast a customer base of 29.5 million people, swiftly over-taking Vodafone and O2 to become Britain's biggest mobile service supplier. It will have revenues of approximately €8.5 billion.
Back