Moldova, 09/09/09 at 9:09 in the evening…Orange is the first operator in the world to launch a new international standard: High Definition voice over a 3G mobile network

It was on September 9, 2009 at 9:09 PM on the dot, in the presence of personalities from the world of science, politics, business, culture and the media, all assembled at the National Museum of Art in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, that the first high-definition mobile phone call was symbolically made…

Already as the inventor of High-definition VoIP in 2006 with Livephones in France, Orange followed in Moldova by launching high definition voice over 3G to offer its customers truly superior sound quality which has elicited remarks of astonishment among those who have tested it: “It feels like the person is in the room”; “you can whisper and sense emotions”; “you hear distinctly, even in a noisy environment like a train station for example.”

Equipment manufacturers and operators have been working since 2007 at perfecting and implementing this new standard, which has now become a reality in Moldova. The new telephone network, Moldovan 3G+, implemented in 2008, is at the cutting edge of technology. It is progressive and able to support new standards such as high-definition voice and 14.4 Mbps. The expertise of the Moldavian technical teams has enabled a quick and efficient implantation, which explains why this country is now the first in the world to be able to launch this service. Plus, 40% of the population is now covered by 14.4 Mbps/ 5.76 Mbps 3G (the largest percentage, with Moldova the only nation to offer it countrywide).

High-definition quality voice is set to progressively become the standard for everyone beginning in 2010: the first terminals currently offering high-definition voice are rather high end, but the technology will trickle down and will be released in more and more 3G phones. Within the next 5 years, the majority of 3G mobile phones should be HD compatible.

Firmly committed to offering its customers the best audio quality possible, Orange wants to be the leader in high definition and hopes to launch in several other countries in 2010, including the United Kingdom and Belgium.

HD voice: how to use
To take optimum advantage of this HD quality voice, several factors must come together at once:
the caller must be equipped with an HD 3G mobile phone;
the person receiving the call must also be equipped with a similar terminal and also have Orange;
both must be located within an HD 3G transmitter zone.

It is important to clarify though that even if all of these conditions are not fully met, the acoustic quality of the HD terminals still offers significant audio improvement. And this is true for all calls made from an HD 3G phone: to landlines, to other operators, abroad, etc.


find out more
the press release
the micro-site with a special video-message by Liudmila Climoc, CEO of Orange Moldova
Orange Moldova portal (in Moldovan)
innovation at Orange