U.S. VoLTE Delayed Until 2013 or 2014?

The outlook for Voice over LTE (VoLTE) in the U.S. market is pretty dire, with sources saying it might be until late 2013 before Verizon lights up nationwide coverage. and 2014 for Sprint, says Doug Doug Mohney. 

That might matter if you believe VoLTE really will resonate with end users, allowing service providers to integrate other media with voice, or match features offered by over the top voice and messaging providers. 

But the potential advantage VoLTE represents is debated. VoLTE is supposed to allow mobile service providers to operate at lower cost, and add value. 

The issue is that, in most cases, lower price tends to beat "more features." No matter what people think "should" be the case, consumers and businesses shift to VoIP to save money, mostly, though the new features sometimes are a nice plus. 

If people are using over the top voice and messaging, it typically is because of the lower price. Matching those features, using VoLTE, probably won't resonate much if the carrier VoLTE prices are not close to those of OTT alternatives.