Verizon has said that it finally plans to roll out Voice over LTE support later this year after first demoing the service way back in early 2011. The first devices to support VoLTE will also include CDMA support, though, so that users can make calls in places where VoLTE isn’t supported. So how long will it take until Verizon can put out a pure LTE-only device? Apparently the answer is 2016.

Verizon CFO Fran Shammo today said that his company plans to release its first phone that relies only on LTE for phone calls in the first half of 2016. The exec didn’t offer up any details on what kind of phone this might be.

Since Verizon hasn’t yet launched its VoLTE service, I can see why Verizon would want to wait until the first half of 2016 before releasing an LTE-only handset. The big red carrier prides itself on its network, and so it makes sense that it’d want to make sure that it irons out all of its VoLTE kinks before selling a device that relies on VoLTE for phone calls. 

How many of you are excited for VoLTE and the improved voice calling that it offers?

Via Engadget