Vodafone New Zealand has launched HD voice service this week. The carrier should be able to showcase the true benefit of higher voice quality in the months to come in combination with existing governmental services.
HD voice isn't anything new under the sun, with over 86 mobile networks in at least 64 countries using the AMR-WB codec to delivery higher quality voice than a typical narrowband landline service. Traditional PSTN calls "chop" speech to a range of about 300 Hz to 3400 Hz, making it more challenging to understand communications by a human brain designed to process voice in a hearing range of about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
Through the use of better hardware and codecs, HD voice "opens the pipe" to deliver a wider range of sound on calls, enabling better understanding by people and machines because there's more information for both brains and CPUs to process and interpret.
One of the cool things the New Zealand government has implemented at its call centers is voice biometrics, using the unique characteristics of a person's voice to provide identification. The technology was first rolled out by the Social Development Ministry in July 2011, and when it works, it cuts 28 seconds from the average length of a call, resulting in happier customers and higher call processing volume per day.
The biggest challenges citied by New Zealand officials were the poorer quality and background noise pickup from mobile phones, with 38 percent of inbound calls at the time made on a mobile phone.
See where this is going? Better voice quality equates to cost savings and happier customers for voice biometrics applications. Each technology provides benefits, and the two technologies together should provide synergy.
Vodafone New Zealand is the largest mobile phone operator in the region with a market share of around 42 percent. Rolling out HD voice should provide a direct benefit to its customers and save money for New Zealand government agencies and banks using voice biometrics.
And, there appear to be benefits beyond those available to voice biometrics customers. Website Voxy says a small number of officers and staff at New Zealand Police are already using HD voice, with the service helping make conversations easier to hear and cutting the time spent repeating or clarifying information.
Given that the launch of HD voice on Vodafone has just taken place, it should be about three to four months before there's significant data to measure the true benefits of the HD voice/voice biometrics combination. If anyone at Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GMSA) is listening, this is a case study that needs to be written if you can get the key players to participate.
Edited by
Blaise McNamee 
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