Egypt gets HD voice through Orange and Mobinil

France Telecom/Orange (www.orange.com) has announced it is launching mobile HD voice service in Cairo on Mobinil’s network.  It is the first time mobile HD voice has been launched in the Africa and Middle East region – and blows a HD Voice News prediction that Tunisia was to be the first.

Mobinil is Egypt’s leading [...]

Orange Switzerland offers a taste of mobile HD voice – commercial launch in 2011

Thanks to Gregory Roger for providing the tip

In November, Orange Switzerland will offer customers a test of HD voice at two locations.  A commercial launch of HD voice is “planned for 2011” says the official Orange release.

Orange says it is the first Swiss mobile telephony provider to invite customers to hear what [...]

Will Morocco be the next African HD voice territory for FT/Orange?

First Tunisia, now Morocco?  France Telecom has agreed to a “strategic partnership” with Caisse de Depot et de Gestion (CDG) and FinanceCom to take an initial stake of 40 percent into Medi Telecom, Morocco’s second largest telecom operator.

France Telecom will “consolidate” this stake into its accounts “by way of global integration” from FY [...]

France Telecom’s mobile HD voice blitz continues – Belgium now live

Mobistar (www.mobistar.be), France Telecom/Orange’s Belgium subsidiary, has now announced mobile HD service in Belgium. 

Mobile HD voice service is available through Mobistar’s 3G network and provided via AMR-WB codec.  Customers of Mobistar get mobile HD voice service free of charge.

Mobistar’s network covers 90 percent of the population.  Current devices supported .. [...]

Orange: 100% HD voice on its 3G+ network in France by the end of the summer

Thanks to Quentin Pagès for the tip

On its website, Orange says that by the end of the summer, its 3G+ network in France will be “100%” HD voice.

The information is provided on Orange’s mobile coverage web page. It says Orange has 92 percent of France’s population covered with 3G+ – France [...]

SFR to become second carrier to offer mobile HD voice in Europe – will it beat Orange?

Thanks to Quinten Pages for the tip

SFR (www.sfr.com) is going to offer HD voice services in France this fall, reports HD numerique in a short piece.

A bit more information can be found by digging through SFR’s press site.  A June 30, 2010 press release brags about SFR’s 3G+ wireless coverage across 87 [...]

Orange/France Telecom adds more mobile HD voice phones to portfolio, expects France HD service by “end of July.”

Earlier this month, France Telecom (www.ft-orange.com) added two Nokia phones to its France lineup which will support HD voice, with a Sony phone arriving in early July.  More importantly, the release-in-translation said that its France network would support HD “by the end of July.”

Introduced on June 10, 2010 and currently available at Orange [...]

And Orange launches HD voice in … Armenia?

Word out of Armenia is France Telecom (www.orange.com) has officially launched mobile HD voice services in that country, making it the second Orange mobile HD voice territory. 

PanARMENIAN.Net reports that FT Executive Vice President Olaf Swantee made the announcement at a June 24 news conference in Yerevan, Armenia.  The country is only the [...]

Orange on pace for UK deployment of Mobile HD voice

Orange (www.ft-orange.com) appears to be on pace with a UK deployment of mobile HD voice, based upon a surge of news out of the blogosphere triggered by a piece in Tech Radar (www.techradar.com).

Tech Radar reports Orange is trialing the service in Bristol, Reading and Southampton and will be “free” to Orange customers with [...]

After MWC: Placing bets on the next mobile HD voice handsets

As France Telecom/Orange announced its plans for covering Europe with mobile HD voice service and AMR-WB, a senior company official said Orange plans to offer 8 mobile HD voice phones in the first half of 2010, with “all” of its handsets supporting HD voice by the end of 2011.   Which vendors are qualified and [...]