Leveraging the best of technology to evolve the communication experience

With the evolution of networks and devices, customers look for solutions that address their problems and increase the capabilities they can use in their day to day communication. The usual approach for telecommunication providers has been focused on a specific set of technologies, but focus should be on the customer, and solutions should bring the best from telco standards, web standards and the application ecosystem to deliver a combination that is better than just the sum of the parts.

Breaking down barriers

Users want to be able to access services anywhere: they want to access their bank information from PC and mobile, listen to their music on any device, or access social networks regardless of what data connection is available.

Why is it that when considering their calls and texts customers are limited to one device and cellular connectivity?

Breaking these barriers allows telephony to bring more value:

• Better coverage, as customers can make and receive calls in places with no signal but Wi-Fi connection, like a basement or the subway
• Savings on roaming, with calls and texts over Wi-Fi always at local rates
• Peace of mind, able to stay in touch if they left their phone at home or ran out of battery
• Convenience, if they simply prefer to use a big keyboard to text or have a call through their PC speakers

Telefónica fulfills this goal of making the telephone service better for our customers with TU Go, which allow customers to use their phone:

• On any kind of device: their phone, tablet or laptop computer
• On any connectivity: GSM circuit switched, LTE data connection or Wi-Fi access
• Keep their communication history synchronized across devices
• Extend it with additional communication capabilities like video calling

Standard interoperability: allowing universal reach

TU Go was designed to bring voice communications to new devices or Wi-Fi connectivity, but keeping a basic expectation of the phone service for our customers: universality and interoperability.

Customers are not limited to calling people that have installed an app; they can call anyone in the world, and any call they get, even if it is from a fixed line or a payphone, rings in TU Go. This is only possible to achieve through integration within an operator’s network, leveraging the interoperability brought with the public phone network for calls and SMS.

Applications as fast delivery mechanism and exploration tool

Applications as a distribution mechanism for communication services come with great advantages: it is possible to support almost any device in the world, regardless of acquisition channel, and application stores allow constant upgrades for the offering, as well as the opportunity to explore new propositions fast.

This is why Telefónica chose applications as the original channel to bring TU Go to the market, and why hundreds of releases later it is still the most dynamic one.

Telco technology to improve customer experience

But as devices support new telco capabilities, like the 3GPP standard of VoWifi, some experiences for communications can be better than what an app offers. A hybrid approach, enabling VoWifi in some devices, while keeping applications for the rest, allows to increase market reach and gives customers more choice. This is what Telefónica has done in its Brazilian operator VIVO, with the first launch in Latin America for the native Wi-Fi calling capability for iPhone supported by TU Go.

Wi-Fi calling is highlighted in devices with a “VIVO TU Go” indication on the status bar. This allows customers to relate their VoWifi experience with the rest of the capabilities available in TU Go.

In the Brazilian market Wi-Fi calling is not a technology, but an experience: VIVO TU Go.

Web standards to bring new value to customers

The Web offers a technological platform with great flexibility and reach. Extending telephony to the Web is an additional value for customers that today is simpler thanks to WebRTC, a W3C specification that allows web pages to provide real time communications on internet browsers without having to install any plug-in. But this technology is not just about voice, so why not use it to provide video communications too?

For Telefónica this question had an obvious answer considering their 2012 acquisition of TokBox, a company providing OpenTok, the leading WebRTC video communications platform. This way, TU Go is now able to turn a voice call into a video call over WiFi or LTE whether the user is on their Android phone or the web in their computer.

Experiences and technology, together

Technology is bringing new options and expectations around communication services that go beyond the basic voice call. But for any communication offering to stay relevant for customers it is important that it focuses on specific needs, brings differential value and is willing to evolve fast. That’s why we can’t be limited by a specific technological approach, and should embrace the best of different technologies so customers can choose the best experience.

By Jorge Serna Pozuelo, TU Director of Products at Telefónica

Hear more from Jorge at the LTE Voice Summit, 10–12 October 2016, London. Find out more and register