Orange first to launch mobile High Definition Voice for UK businesses - the biggest advance in calls in twenty years

Hearing is believing: business conversations on the move and in noisy environments just got easier with crystal clear calls
75% of business owners stated clear call quality to be the most important functionality of their mobile device
33% of business owners say they constantly struggle to hold phone conversations in noisy environments

Orange announces the biggest advance in voice calls in 20 years with the launch of its mobile High Definition (HD) Voice service, enabling businesses to benefit from the next era in mobile communications. Increased call clarity and the filtering out of background noise make important business conversations possible no matter where they are conducted.

Call clarity has emerged as a necessity for many businesses. Recent research* from Orange has shown that 75% of business owners believe clear call quality to be the most important aspect of their mobile device; with 33% saying they routinely struggled to hold phone conversations due to the noisy environment they work in. With HD Voice, neither a noisy work environment or being out of the office are barriers to a successful call with customers, colleagues or suppliers.

Orange HD Voice also eliminates the perceived distance between callers making it easier to hear the emotions in people’s voices. According to the research, this is seen as crucial with 80% of business owners stating that it is very important to hear people’s emotions when conducting a conversation. Almost one in five (18%) even admitted that they had lost a deal because of a misunderstanding over the phone as they couldn’t hear what was being said.

HD Voice also opens up new opportunities for better ways of working in business. In addition to benefitting industries with significant background noise like construction and manufacturing, the arrival of HD Voice is hotly anticipated by the broadcasting industry, which believes that the service could reduce both its reliance on expensive ISDN lines and the need to ferry guests to studios for interviews.

The BBC is trialling the solution as a low cost alternative to the traditional methods of live contribution for both its reporters and potentially for guests and to improve the sound quality for breaking news reports which will often be done using a mobile phone.

Robert Ayres, Raycox Turf, said, “Having trialled HD Voice for a number of weeks, I was impressed by the difference it made to my phone calls. The ability to have a faultless call experience regardless of where I was made important business conversations that much easier and meant I didn’t have to worry about being in a quiet space to make any calls.”

Martin Stiven, VP of Business at Everything Everywhere, the company which runs Orange UK, said: “HD Voice is going to change the way businesses are able to communicate through our business mobiles from conducting calls in places that were not previously possible to the ability to hear emotions in people’s voices. We’re about bringing people closer together and HD Voice does just that, making business colleagues feel as if they’re speaking face to face. People are going to love the clarity of calls and the lack of background noise. Once you’ve used it, you will want to keep it.”

HD Voice for business is now available on the Nokia E5 and the Samsung Omnia Pro B7350 handsets with more HD enabled handsets to follow in the coming months.

For more information on HD Voice for business please visit: www.orange.co.uk/business/hdvoice