5G New Calling: Revolutionising the Communication Services

RELEASE DATE

APRIL 2023

AUTHOR

NAME SURNAME

5G New Calling:

Revolutionising the

Communication Services

Landscape

RELEASE DATE

SEPTEMBER 2023

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COMMUNICATION SERVICES LANDSCAPE

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The GSM Association (“Association”) makes no

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The information contained in this document may

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Contents

1. Executive Summary 5

2. A New Dawn for Communication Services 6

2.1 The evolution of operator communication services 6

2.1.1 Voice service 6

2.1.2 Video service 9

2.2 Operators’ advantages 11

2.3 What is 5G New Calling? 12

2.4 Business Opportunities 13

3 Use Cases and Examples 14

3.1 Consumer use cases 14

3.1.1 Smart translation 14

3.1.2 Augmented Reality (AR) Calling 15

3.1.3 Content sharing 16

3.2 Enterprise Use Cases 17

3.2.1 Enterprise Caller ID 17

3.2.2 Smart customer service 18

3.3 Advanced Use Cases 19

3.3.1 Social Game 19

3.3.2 MR-based Immersive New Calling 19

4 Standardisation Progress 20

4.1 Overview of Standardisation Activities 20

4.2 3GPP 20

4.3 GSMA 22

4.4 Further Standardisation Vision 23

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Contents

Acknowledgments

The document has been created thanks to the following contributors:

Editor: CMCC, GSMA

Contributor: AIS, Huawei, Itaú, iFlytech, UNISOC, Xiaomi, Zain Kuwait

Reviewer: China Broadnet, Honor, MediaTek, Meizu, OPPO

5 5G New Calling readiness 24

5.1 Phased approach to 5G New Calling 24

5.2 Network evolution 24

5.3 Mobile chipsets 25

5.4 Devices 25

5.5 Application developers 26

6 Proofs of Concept and Trials 27

6.1 Introduction 27

6.2 Zain Kuwait 27

6.2.1 Smart translation 27

6.2.2 Smart menu 28

6.2.3 Lighting up the screen 28

6.3 AIS Thailand 29

6.3.1 Massive consumer and business services 29

6.3.2 Interactive business services 29

7 Industry collaboration 30

8 Glossary 31

References 31

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 5G New Calling (5GNC) promises to usher in a

new era of communications by leveraging the

capabilities of 5G networks and the IP Multimedia

Subsystem (IMS) to deliver high quality, multimedia

and secure interactions between consumers, as well

as between businesses and consumers.

 5GNC can enrich voice and video calls with

features that are readily accessible from

smartphones without the need to install and keep

applications up to date. The functionality could also

be used to enable more immersive experiences and

ultimately facilitate access to the metaverse.

 As the deployment of 5G networks gathers

momentum, businesses and application developers

will be empowered to deliver advanced, highly-cus-

tomised services that make use of 5G’s ultra-low

latency, exceptional bandwidth and predictable

quality of service, as well as artiﬁcial intelligence

(AI), virtual, mixed and AR.

 5GNC is not a futuristic concept. Grounded in

3GPP IMS speciﬁcations and adopting the existing

proﬁles and the GSMA’s Permanent Reference

Documents (PRDs) for voice and video over IMS,

networks and devices already support sucient

functionality for operators to start experimenting.

 Moving forward, 5GNC will greatly expand

operators’ capabilities by harnessing the IMS Data

Channel (DC), which is being developed in a

number of international consortia, including 3GPP,

the GSMA, W3C and IETF. IMS data channel devices

are already available for demonstrations and proof

of concept.

 When 5GNC is enriched by the IMS DC, operators

will gain access to a wealth of experience in

web technology among the large community of

JavaScript developers, creating a new ecosystem.

 As 5GNC reaches full maturity, operators will

have at their disposal a powerful platform to

develop, deploy and manage a wide variety of

services that are tailored to address disparate use

cases, while being able to oer new capabilities to

third party application developers to distribute and

enhance their own services.

 With 5GNC, operators could utilise their IMS

assets and set up win-win relationships with

over-the-top players (OTTs) by making available,

through globally deﬁned APIs, the advanced

capabilities of their 5G networks.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Executive Summary

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2.1 The evolution of operator

communication services

2.1.1 Voice service

For many years, voice calling was the primary

use case of cellular networks and instrumental to

the phenomenal adoption of mobile devices.

Most traditional voice service was fully based on

the ﬁxed voice service: In general, it used the same

numbering scheme, the same circuit switched

technology, the same set of supplementary services

with added support for added mobility and the

possibility to personalise the experience.

With 4G making mobile broadband available,

several alternative voice services emerged, either

as standalone applications (e.g. Skype, Viber), or as

extension of messaging services (e.g. WhatsApp,

WeChat) or as part of social media platforms (e.g.

Meta, X). These alternative services are perceived

to be convenient and free, and even if they do not

provide a consistent quality of service, they deliver

an acceptable experience for many users.

In response, operators upgraded their voice

services using Voice over LTE (VoLTE), which

oers incremental advantages compared to circuit

switched voice. In fact, it is designed to remain fully

backwards-compatible and, therefore, oers full

feature parity and is largely indistinguishable from

the legacy voice service.

Even though support for VoLTE roaming has been

slow, voice calling remains an extremely important

component of operators’ service mix. After an initial

impact following the introduction of non-operator

voice service, many operators have been reporting

stable (or even increasing) Minutes-of-Use (MoU)

per mobile connection for the past ﬁve years (see

Graph 1).

A new dawn

for communication

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The impact of alternative voice providers’ on

operators’ voice trac has been signiﬁcant for

certain types of voice communication, such as

international/roaming owing to cost, or calls to

acquaintances who are likely to use the same

alternative providers (see Graph 2 & 3). But the

decline is less apparent for work-related calls where

quality of service is considered essential as well

as for calls to strangers and B2C calls, probably

because the caller wants to avoid the need to

pre-establish a connection over an alternative voice

service provider. The preferred way for enterprises

to communicate with customers is likely to remain

the operator voice service.

The preferred way for enterprises

to communicate with customers is

likely to remain the operator voice

service.

A NEW DAWN FOR COMMUNICATION

Latin America

Northern Africa

Eastern Asia

Southern Asia

West Europe

China

South East Asia

2015 Volume

Q1 2015 Q1 2016 Q1 2017 Q1 2018 Q1 2019 Q1 2020 Q1 2021 Q1 2022

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

Source:

GSMA Intelligence

Graph 1

Percentage increase/decrease of operator voice usage compared to usage in 2015 Q1 for

selected operators

Increase/decrease

compared to Q1 2015

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A NEW DAWN FOR COMMUNICATION

Graph 2

Illustrative: voice calling split between operator provided and non-operator provided voice

service by destination

OTT

MNO

OTT vs Cellular Call Type

0 5 10 15 20 25

Friends

Strangers

Work related

B2C

International

Friends

Strangers

Work related

B2C

International

Source:

Huawei

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2.1.2 Video service

Video call has been supported by standards for more than 10 years,

as part of the Multimedia telephony (MMTEL) Service speciﬁcations,

and work has been carried out in the GSMA to create proﬁles

facilitating the conﬁguration of networks and devices. Operators even

experimented with video call in 3G networks, but, with the exception of

some markets, operator video call has not been widely adopted.

There are several reasons for the diculties telcos have had in bringing

video communications to consumers:

 Most operator IMS networks were not interconnected, so video

calls between two parties belonging to a dierent network were

not possible

 Support in devices was not widespread

 The functionality to manipulate the video media (add/remove

video, accept/reject) were not included in the dialler and there

was no indication whether the other party could support video

communications

 Charging principles were not uniform

 Unlike voice call, video call could not fall back from 4G to

legacy networks therefore dense 4G coverage with good quality

connection was needed for both participants in the call.

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On the other hand, video communications natively

supported by operating systems (Google Duo,

Facetime) or provided as add-ons to messaging

apps, are now quite successful, despite suering

from many of the above problems. However, there is

still the opportunity for operators to compete with

other players in this space with video service

(see Graph 3).

A NEW DAWN FOR COMMUNICATION

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

IndiaChina United

States

Indonesia NigeriaBrazilRussia MexicoJapan PhillipinesEgypt VietnamTurkeyGermany Worldwide

average

Graph 3

Worldwide average percentage of users making video calls with their mobile – selection of

countries with largest population

10.3

18.5

27.0

33.6

3 4.0

35.3

37.9

3 4.9

39.0 39.1

39.7

40.0

40.7

50.5

52.6

Source:

Statista.com

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2.2 Operators’ advantages

Mobile operator services, especially voice calling, still have signiﬁcant

advantages compared to alternatives in the market, namely:

Global reach. Over-the-top apps and native OS applications

restrict the communications to members of the same

community, but mobile operator services can provide universal

reach (call any number) including legacy mobile systems and

non-mobile users, in case of voice services.

Integration in the smartphone. Unlike competitive

communication services, operators’ services work out-of-the-

box, not requiring pre-installation of any software or separate

subscription/identity.

Carrier-grade service. Operator communication services can

leverage the quality of service framework of the mobile system

to guarantee a minimum level of performance. This becomes

more critical as new types of services emerge that require

stringent connectivity KPIs to work correctly (for example, AR

communications require ultra-low latency).

Regulatory compliance. Operator communication services

support emergency calls and other regulatory requirements,

such as lawful intercept if mandated. Through the tight

interworking of the service with the network, it is possible to

provide the location of the user, call back if an emergency call

is dropped, and prioritise handling of an emergency call in the

device and the network.

Transparent charging regime. Voice is treated as a

telecommunication service, rather than a data connection as is

the case in OTT, meaning operators can make charging more

transparent (e.g. apply calling party pays model).

Operators can preserve the above beneﬁts while introducing a raft

of exciting new features both for the beneﬁt of the consumers and

enterprises.

5GNC represent a golden opportunity to enable operators to re-enter

the service provision area, leveraging their strengths and reversing the

current decline.

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2.3 What is 5G New Calling?

By harnessing 5G networks and new technologies,

such as AI and AR, 5GNC supports innovative,

user-friendly and convenient call enhancements

and applications. A 5GNC solution oers the

following “new” features:

A new experience.

The call is enhanced from a pure voice and video

communication to a ultra-high-deﬁnition, intelligent,

and interactive experience.

New capabilities.

Media and data interaction capabilities can be

seamlessly integrated into voice and video calls to

create rich applications that transform a regular

call into a more rewarding or more ecient

communication medium.

A new ecosystem.

5GNC will create a new ecosystem where many

dierent types of industries will be able to reach

their customers through mobile connections

by leveraging well known web technology that

works out-of-the-box. This paper refers to these

applications as New Calling Mini-Apps. New Calling

Mini-Apps can be developed by operators, device

manufacturers and third party developers, forming

an open ecosystem for the 5GNC. An example of a

restaurant booking Mini-App is shown in Image 1,

which is loaded onto the device when a call is made

and provides an interactive menu.

New Calling Mini-App

The “New Calling Mini-App” is an application

stored on the operator’s network and that is

pushed to the user terminal during the call.

Compared to regular applications, the

New Calling Mini-App is more akin to

WebApps currently being deﬁned in the

W3C Consortium. A New Calling Mini-App

is generally invoked during a call or prior the

completion of the call establishment to provide

multiple features for users to improve their

experience.

The “New Calling Mini-Apps” rely on native

features of the device, but unlike regular apps

consumers are familiar with today, they do not

require pre-installation , and are always up to

date, secure, not tied to a speciﬁc ecosystem

and make use of the biding between user

identities and mobile number. In terms of

security, the guidelines outlined in GSMA

PRD NG.134

are applicable to “New Calling

Mini-Apps” that adhere to the IETF security

framework and meet the necessary standards.

4/ GSMA PRD NG.134 “IMS DC”

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2.4 Business Opportunities

5GNC oers a straightforward route for operators

to be more than simple connectivity providers.

In summary, operators are likely to adopt a

two-pronged approach by launching 5GNC

targeting both consumers and enterprises.

With 5GNC, consumers will be able to enjoy the

beneﬁts of carrier-grade communication services

that are at least at functional parity with (if not

better than) equivalent services oered by OTTs.

The services will work out-of-the-box, without the

need for installation, upgrading and with superior

security and well-deﬁned costs. At the same time,

5GNC will provide enterprises with greater reach to

their customers. Enterprises can work with operators

to create bespoke Mini-Apps, which take advantage

of operators’ quality of service, security, global reach

and many other capabilities.

The control of the connectivity, as well as the

hosting of the application servers that realise

the advanced service logic, will ensure operators

maintain a strong presence in the value chain

Additionally, 5GNC will bring the following beneﬁts

for mobile operators:

 Monetise existing IMS assets

 Boost migration of voice call from

circuit-switched to more cost-ecient

packet-switched technologies

 Boost adoption of video over IMS

 Leverage capabilities of 5G networks, such

as low latency and high throughput, in the

consumer segment

 Bring service parity with OTT

communications propositions

Image 1

Example of restaurant booking Mini-App

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3.1 Consumer use cases

3.1.1 Smart translation

Smart translation enables a user to enjoy eective

video communication with a contact that speaks a

dierent language or may be hearing impaired.

The smart translation service supports both voice

transcription and real-time translation. When voice

transcription is activated, the audio stream of the

other party is converted into text and overlaid in real

time as captions on the video stream. The real-time

translation function goes one step further displaying

the captions translated into the desired language.

To activate smart translation, users of basic video

call terminals can simply conﬁgure the preferred

settings and enable this function by contacting

the operator. They can also adjust some settings

during the call using speciﬁc digit combinations on

the dialler. Using smart translation is even easier if

the device supports IMS DC; in this case the smart

translation is presented on the screen of the device

as a Mini-App that can be launched during the call.

The user can interact with the Mini-App’s graphical

interface to modify settings, switch function and

so on.

Besides the obvious scenario of using smart

translation to talk with someone who speaks a

dierent language (for example to book a table at a

restaurant while abroad), there are other scenarios

where the smart translation and captioning

functions are valuable. They can, for example, enable

communications that would otherwise be dicult,

such as calls in noisy environment or communicating

with hearing impaired users.

The smart translation service can also be used as

a powerful business tool by helping to remove the

language barrier that is a major impediment for

many commercial transactions. An example screen

shot of the smart translation service is shown in

Image 2.

USE CASES AND EXAMPLES

Use cases and

examples

Image 2

Real-time translation and captioning in action

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3.1.2 Augmented Reality (AR) Calling

AR Calling is designed to provide users with a fun, rich and interactive

video call experience. AR Calling enables the user to include a virtual

background, stickers and an avatar in a video call. This functionality is

particularly likely to appeal to younger generations who enjoy sharing

their presence and emotions. Example screen shots of AR Calling are

shown in Image 3.

The virtual background function allows users to set the background of

the video call to be displayed to the other participants during the video

call. With the stickers function, certain eects can be triggered when

speciﬁc words are spoken or when the user makes a speciﬁc gesture

or action during the video call. Both sides’ videos will overlay the

corresponding emoticon eect for that speciﬁc word or gesture.

Example: A user is on a business trip away from home and cannot

participate in a birthday party his friends are holding, so he chooses

to make a video call to his friend to wish him happy birthday. The user

enables the AR Calling function and sets the “Happy Birthday” panel

as the virtual background in advance, which replaces the existing

background with the caller’s greetings. His friend picks up the call,

and when the caller says “Happy Birthday”, a large birthday cake with

candles lit up instantly appears on the screen, and when he sings

“Happy Birthday”, countless ribbons accompany the cake. In short,

AR Calling can make video calls more fun and bring people closer

together.

AR Calling functions are activated in a similar way to smart translation.

Whether an individual is using a video call device or a device that

support IMS DC, they can access AR Calling functions through

simple steps.

USE CASES AND EXAMPLES

Image 3

Examples of avatars, stickers and ﬁllers for AR Calling

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3.1.3 Content sharing

Content sharing is a collection of 5GNC functions implemented via

IMS DC technology. If both parties use devices that support IMS DC,

users can send each other photos, share their location, send ﬁles and

business cards, and share screens.

A user can select any photos and ﬁles on the device and transmit them

to the other party without having to interrupt the call.

Location sharing encompasses two functions: “send location” and

“real-time location sharing”. The other party will receive the location in

the form of a map.

Both parties can also choose to use the screen sharing function during

the call, which allows the receiver to see the sender’s screen in real

time. Both parties can then annotate the screen.

These content sharing functions all require terminals that support

IMS DC and are realised through a New Calling Mini-App that is

automatically provided by the network to both devices during the call

(no need for installing or updating).

Businesses can employ content sharing to share ﬁles and information

with customers.

USE CASES AND EXAMPLES

Image 4

Example of content sharing

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3.2 Enterprise use cases

3.2.1 Enterprise Caller ID

Enterprise Caller ID will provide new opportunities

for enterprises to reach users. The key features of

the Enterprise Caller ID are:

 Enterprise Caller ID enables businesses to

create exclusive and veriﬁed business cards

through operators.

 When customer services sta call users,

the user’s screen will display the enterprise’s

business card and call purpose.

 This enhances user trust, and improves the

access rate and communication eciency for

the enterprise.

In summary, Enterprise Caller ID provides a way

for enterprises to identify themselves when calling

users, in order to improve the eectiveness of those

calls. An example screen shot is shown in Image 5.

Caller ID in action

(banking Mini-App)

Banks plan to use Enterprise Caller ID to realise

the following beneﬁts:

• • Easier debt renegotiation by increasing

the number of calls answered. For example,

Itaú, a bank in Brazil, has found more than

80% of its calls are classiﬁed as spam on

calling apps provided by third parties.

• • Improved security. The practice of

spooﬁng has negatively impacted attempts

to contact customers.

USE CASES AND EXAMPLES

Image 5

Example of Enterprise Caller ID

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3.2.2 Smart customer service

Smart customer service is an upgrade of traditional telephone-based

customer service. When a consumer dials a speciﬁc customer service

number on their IMS DC device, they will automatically enter the smart

customer service Mini-App corresponding to this customer service

number. Rather than relying on traditional voice and keypad inputs,

smart customer service provides a new interactive interface combined

with human customer service. Users can choose dierent services

within the customised menu, or they can connect to human customer

service and perform corresponding operations under the guidance of a

member of sta.

Smart customer service can be highly customised, enabling the

creation of dedicated customer service for dierent enterprise users.

Mobile operators, for example, could use it to provide bills and other

information. For home appliance makers, it can be used to provide

bidirectional video marking functions, so that customer service sta

can observe the user’s on-site scene in real time (with the user’s

authorisation), and guide them on how to use the functions of home

appliances or eliminate simple errors. For insurers or banks, smart

customer service can be used for face veriﬁcation and real-time digital

signatures, making life easier for customers and improving enterprise

work eciency.

For enterprise users, smart customer service could increase user

reach rates, enhance user stickiness and bring extra income, as well as

improving business processing eciency.

Example: Following an accident, a customer contacts their insurance

company for remote damage assessment using the 5GNC Mini-App

and shares images of the damage in real-time from within the Mini-App

(see Image 6).

Advanced

interactive

smart customer

service

By presenting an

interactive menu to the

customer during the call,

it is possible to transform

a voice communication

into a fully-ﬂedged digital

service. Customers can

access self-service journeys

through the Mini-App that

is loaded automatically in

the background at the start

of the call providing a more

user-friendly experience

than traditional Interactive

Voice Response (IVR).

With visual New Calling the

5GNC will allow enterprises,

such as a bank, to send

messages to customers

about security instructions

for ﬁnancial markets or to

showcase the banks

new products.

USE CASES AND EXAMPLES

Image 6

Damage assessment using the 5G New Calling Mini-App

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3.3 Advanced use cases

3.3.1 Social Gaming

New Calling functionality can enable people to

play games together during a call. If both parties’

devices support IMS DC, users can play social games

during two-person calls or multiplayer calls. They

can send each other game invitations and play

together during video calls. There are a wide range

of potential games, including puzzle games, parlour

games and competitions.

When a parent is away with work, they may want

to be able to interact and play with their children.

5GNC makes that straightforward. During a call, a

parent and child, for example, can click on the game

function and choose a dodge ball game. Two tracks

will appear: the parent controls a track and the child

controls the other track, and both sides dodge the

ﬂying ball by turning their heads to see who holds

out longer.

The game functions require devices that support

IMS DC, which are enabled by a New Calling Mini-

App that is provided by the network to both devices

before the call starts.

3.3.2 Mixed Reality (MR) -based Immersive

New Calling

MR headsets are becoming more and more popular.

They oer an immersive experience and spatial

human-computer interaction that opens up new

possibilities for remote communication in both an

oce and home setting.

New Calling enables users to create their own

digital-twin or avatar in a mixed reality space,

where multiple users can communicate and interact.

Rather than simply seeing each other in 2D in

video windows, this functionality enables callers

to experience 3D face-to-face interaction. 5G and

gigabyte ﬁbre networks can support the high

quality cloud rendering and low latency

connectivity required.

During an MR -based immersive call, facial

movement and body gestures can be tracked and

portrayed digitally, synchronised with voices.

Within the mixed reality space, 2D presentations can

be shared in a virtual screen or 3D models can be

discussed and manipulated. Six Degrees-of-Freedom

(6DoF) interaction allows users to move around and

operate 3D objects in the virtual space. In this way,

New Calling can generate a spatial virtual reality that

improves communication.

MR -based Immersive New Calling requires MR

headsets to support Simultaneous Localisation and

Mapping (SLAM), 6DoF interaction, voice recording

and be able to run the necessary app.

USE CASES AND EXAMPLES

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4.1 Overview of standardisation

activities

Standardisation has been instrumental to

the success of 5G, as well as previous mobile

telecommunication technologies. The cooperation

between all the stakeholders in international

standards bodies fosters interoperability, widens

the supply chain and creates economies of scale,

resulting in robust, secure and high performance

products. Therefore, it is critical to deeply root

5GNC in 3GPP speciﬁcations, GSMA proﬁles and

other relevant standards to leverage such beneﬁts.

In the initial phase, 5GNC will be based on 3GPP

IMS technical speciﬁcations and rely on the GSMA

proﬁles for VoLTE (PRD IR.92

), ViLTE (PRD IR.94

)

and VoNR (PRD NG.114

) all of which enjoy a

high level of stability and proven track record.

Moving forward, when the full functionality of the

IMS DC is introduced, 5GNC will continue to comply

to 3GPP speciﬁcations and GSMA proﬁles, such

as NG.134

By adopting international standards, 5GNC will

ﬁt seamlessly into mobile operators’ systems, will

facilitate adoption in devices and will fulﬁl operator

requirements, including charging and security.

4.2 3GPP

Established in 1998, 3GPP is responsible for

creating the technical speciﬁcations on which 3G,

4G and 5G are based. The work in 3GPP ﬂows from

service requirements (stage 1), to the design of

the architecture (stage 2) and the deﬁnition of the

protocols (stage 3). 3GPP issues fully self-contained

sets of technical speciﬁcations called “Releases”.

As of 2023, 3GPP is working on Release 18, which is

scheduled for completion in early 2024, with related

products available some months later.

3GPP SA1, responsible for the stage 1, has ﬁnished

its Rel-18 study and normative work on the evolution

of IMS MMTEL service, i.e. FS_MMTELin5G and

eMMTel. It has identiﬁed and documented new use

cases, such as real-time screen sharing, real-time

visual interactive menu, multimedia Calling Line

Identity Presentation (CLIP) and Connected Line

Identity Presentation (COLP), and potential service

requirements in 3GPP TR 22.873

and 3GPP TS

22.261

In December 2021, 3GPP SA2, the working group

that deﬁnes the system architecture, initiated its

Rel-18 study on the network architecture evolution

for real-time communication services based on the

IMS enhancement requirements from stage 1. In May

2023, SA2 ﬁnished the study and normative work,

and it concluded on the following three key issues in

3GPP TR 23.700-87

and TS 23.228

1/ GSMA PRD IR.92 “IMS Proﬁle for Voice and SMS”, GSMA

2/ GSMA PRD IR.94 “IR.94 IMS Proﬁle for Conversational Video

Service”, GSMA

3/ GSMA PRD NG.114 “IMS Proﬁle for Voice, Video and Messaging

over 5GS”, GSMA

4/ GSMA PRD NG.134 “IMS DC”

5/ 3GPP TR 22.873 “ Study on evolution of the IP Multimedia

Subsystem (IMS) multimedia voice call service”, 3GPP

6/ 3GPP TS 22.261 “Service requirements for the 5G system”, 3GPP

7/ 3GPP TR 23.700-87 “Study on system architecture enhancement

for next generation real time communication”, 3GPP

8/ 3GPP TS 23.228 “IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS); Stage 2”

STANDARDISATION PROGRESS

Standardisation

progress

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 Enhancement to support the DC in the IMS network.

 IMS-based AR communication.

 Study the applicability of service-based principles to IMS media

control interfaces. 5G and gigabyte ﬁbre networks can support the

high quality cloud rendering and low latency connectivity required.

In the meantime, both 3GPP SA3 (security) and SA5 (charging) working

groups have started their Rel-18 normative work. SA3 is progressing on

IMS DC security and SA5 is focusing on duration-based charging and

volume-based charging for the IMS DC.

Furthermore, 3GPP SA4 (codecs), which introduced the DC concept

into IMS in Rel-16, is collaborating with SA2 to align with the concluded

speciﬁcations on the IMS DC.

Based on the requirements from SA1, 3GPP is also working on making

the eMMTel capabilities available to application providers, as well as

vertical service providers, through standardised APIs in Rel-19. This

work is led by the SA6 group, and the study will align with the 3GPP

SA2 speciﬁcation TS23.228

on the enhanced IMS architecture/

procedures.

Based on the conclusions of stage 2, 3GPP CT1 and CT4 have started

the corresponding normative work for IMS DC interfaces and protocols,

and are scheduled to complete it around March 2024.

8/ 3GPP TS 23.228 “IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS); Stage 2”

STANDARDISATION PROGRESS

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4.3 The GSMA

The GSMA is supporting the development of the 5GNC industry chain

through a series of activities in both its Networks Group (NG) and its

Terminal Steering Group (TSG):

 GSMA NG released NG.129

in December 2021. This white

paper describes the IMS DC technology and the related industry

vision, and proposes requirements on IMS DC-based C2C,

B2C, and C2B communication services on operators, vendors,

and device manufacturers.

 In May 2023, GSMA NG released PRD NG.134

. The PRD

details a IMS Proﬁle for IMS DC, which deﬁnes a minimum

mandatory set of features that user equipment (UE) and

networks are required to implement to guarantee interoperable,

high quality end-to-end IMS-based communication services for

IMS DC over LTE radio access to EPC and NR access connected

to 5GC.

 The GSMA TSG has initiated the IMSDCAS work item in April

2023 to specify an open and standardised IMS DC API

speciﬁcation for application developers. Immediately after that,

GSMA TSG also initiated the UEIMSDC work item in May 2023

to deﬁne DCMTSI-speciﬁc functional and non-functional

test cases for voice-centric UE with DCMTSI client, including

test features and procedures, covering ﬁeld testing, lab testing,

performance testing and any other test cases that might

be required.

 The GSMA TG (Technology Group) has released a Business

Voice Calling White Paper (TGY.02

) in December 2021 that

covers aspects that are relevant for 5GNC.

4/ GSMA PRD NG.134 “IMS DC”

9/ GSMA PRD NG.129 “IMS DC White Paper”

10/ GSMA TGY.02 “Business Voice Calling”

STANDARDISATION PROGRESS

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4.4 Further standardisation

Work in standardisation organisations will continue

to evolve the IMS DC and add new features in the

coming years. Further standardisation work is likely

to focus on the following aspects:

 Enable interworking and roaming of New

Calling services.

 Expose IMS real-time communication

capabilities, such as audio, video, text and

data, to enterprises/verticals to empower

B2C/C2B service innovation.

 Support standalone DC - a DC Mini-App that

does not require accompanying audio/video

media in an IMS session. This will open up

further opportunities for the development of

innovative services and for fulﬁlling the needs of

some enterprises/verticals.

 Enhance the IMS media plane to support

more immersive and interactive IMS services,

including the extended reality (XR) services

speciﬁed in Rel-19 by 3GPP SA1.

STANDARDISATION PROGRESS

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5.1 Phased approach to 5G New

Calling

A successful 5GNC service depends on the full

ecosystem, including chips, devices, networks,

and software developers working in tandem. The

development model and experience of traditional

call services will be dierent to 5GNC.

The launch of 5GNC will take place in two phases.

In phase 1, based on the video call capability

provided by existing devices in the market, only the

core network is enhanced to improve the media

processing capability. In this way, users can enjoy a

set of enhanced capabilities and innovative services

that can be natively supported in the device calling

interface (the dialler) without the need to download

and install a separate client.

In phase 2, the network will be upgraded in parallel

with the terminal upgrade to support IMS DC

capability, real-time data interaction between

the cloud and user and between the two users.

In addition, the voice and video calls, the 5GNC

services will integrate other media types and data

transfer capabilities.

5.2 Network evolution

While phase 1 of 5GNC can be deployed with

minimal changes to the current infrastructure,

operators around the world and especially in

China are already working with industry partners

to upgrade their networks to support the required

capabilities for advanced 5GNC services, based on

the GSMA guidelines, as well as the most recent

3GPP technical speciﬁcations.

The main enhancement to the operator core

network will be in the IMS. The IMS has remained

fundamentally unchanged in the past 10 years, as

it was already able to support multimedia voice

services, such as VoLTE and ViLTE, as well as their

evolution to 5G (VoNR and ViNR). The introduction

of IMS -DC support, the alignment of the IMS

architecture to the same service-based architecture

used in the 5G core network and the need for more

sophisticated control of media will require operators

wishing to support 5GNC to upgrade.

Case study: China Mobile

China Mobile is well into the phase 1 of the

deployment of 5GNC services. The operator is

piloting and verifying “smart translation” and

“AR calling”, based on the phase 1 of audio and

video capabilities, in several provinces of China.

At the same time, a number of friendly users

have been invited to experience 5GNC functions

in advance.

China Mobile hopes to complete the veriﬁcation

work in the pilot provinces during 2023 and

make every eort to promote the service

rollout on the entire network. At the same

time, the research and development (R&D) and

veriﬁcation of the phase 2 of 5GNC are also

under way. China Mobile has successfully tested

the IMS DC-based 5GNC “Smart Translation”

Mini-App, indicating that the phase 2 - IMS DC-

based 5GNC in China - is ready to operate in the

live network environment.

5GNC READINESS

5G New

Calling

readiness

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5.3 Mobile chipsets

Mobile chipsets are the foundation of the industry

ecosystem. The chip industry in China now has a

complete IMS DC-based phase 2 New Calling device

solution, which will provide various chip capabilities

required to meet the requirements of 5GNC services.

With the emergence of more product forms or

application scenarios in the future, the chip solution

will evolve to meet the cross-platform compatibility

requirements of 5GNC and adapt to new application

scenarios.

5.4 Devices

The progress of upgrading devices to support IMS

DC capabilities will be key to large-scale adoption

of 5GNC services. Existing 5G devices in the market

can meet the service requirement of phase 1 of

5GNC without the need for hardware or software

modiﬁcations. However, devices supporting the

IMS DC capabilities for phase 2 have not yet been

released and are still under development.

Support for the IMS DC in the device would probably

be the most radical innovation since the launch

of 5G and represents a vital opportunity to entice

users to upgrade their device: in other words, 5GNC

could be the ﬁrst operator service suite speciﬁcally

designed to take advantage of cloud-native 5G

networks’ capabilities. The architecture of a 5GNC

Terminal is shown in Image 7.

The market promotion of 5GNC devices will take

time and the penetration of such devices will be

gradual. The ﬁrst devices supporting the IMS DC

capability are set to be released in China before the

end of 2023 and after in the rest of the world.

5GNC READINESS

Mini-App 1

Native Call App (Dialler)

New Calling Mini-Apps

Mini-App 2

New Calling Running Environment

IMS DC Interface

OS (With DC Capability)

Modem (With DC Capability)

Native call interface

Native call function

Image 7

5G New Calling enabled device architecture

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5.5 Application developers

A thriving and high-quality developer community will be an important

part of the 5GNC industry ecosystem. In China, the industry is in the

“introduction period” to attract more developers to participate in

the development of 5GNC services. China Mobile has innovated and

incubated multiple demonstration applications, built benchmark cases,

and explored 5GNC application possibilities.

5GNC capabilities are being exposed to developers through

documents, Mini-App development suites service quality test tools,

and open-source 5GNC devices development kit (SDK) code, helping

developers quickly interconnect with each other and lowering the

barriers to entry. In future, more partners will participate in the

development of the 5GNC application ecosystem. Operators will

work with ecosystem partners to continuously improve network AI

capabilities, build more 5G applications, and build innovative platform

products based on New Calling services.

5GNC READINESS

China Mobile has innovated and incubated

multiple demonstration applications, built

benchmark cases, and explored 5GNC application

possibilities.

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PROOFS OF CONCEPT AND TRIALS

6.1 Introduction

5GNC has been demonstrated by consortia of mostly China-based

companies at global events, such as the GSMA MWC 2023.

However, 5GNC is far from being a regional initiative. Several operators

in various regions of the world have either conducted or are close

to implementing a proof of concept (PoC) and trial. Some of the

considerations and, where available, results are documented in this

section.

6.2 Zain Kuwait

As a leading operator in the Middle East and a driving force of

5GNC, Zain Kuwait is focused on innovative communication product

development. In 2023, Zain Kuwait proposed a

5GNC PoC plan and aims to be ﬁrst operator to

oer the following services in the

Middle East:

6.2.1 Smart translation

Kuwait is a popular destination for tourists from all over the world.

With a population of about 4.5 million, Kuwait welcomed 8.5 million

tourists in 2019, speaking 20 or more dierent languages. In line with

“New Kuwait 2035” (a Kuwait National Development Plan), Kuwait aims

to repurpose, modernise and redevelop the existing tourism facilities

in order to provide new world-class experiences for visitors. A smart

translation service for tourists visiting Kuwait could represent a major

step towards achieving this goal. When a visitor calls the local service

departments for help, smart translation functionality would remove

any language barriers. Zain Kuwait plans to start the PoC of smart

translation in 2023.

Proofs of concept

and trials

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6.2.2 Smart menu

A smart menu function could signiﬁcantly improve

service eciency for businesses, such as banks,

utilities and travel agencies, running call centres in

Kuwait. Today, after a call is answered, the customer

has to listen to a voice menu in dierent languages,

which is very inconvenient. With a smart menu, all

the service options can be presented visually on the

screen, and customers can access the services, via

a simple touch. Zain Kuwait plans to start a trial of

smart menu functionality in 2023.

PROOFS OF CONCEPT AND TRIALS

6.2.3 Lighting up the screen

Kuwait’s population is youthful. As of June 2022,

more than half the population (51.8%) was under

25 years old. A lighting up the screen feature

enables young people to show their personalities

during a call. They can conﬁgure personal avatars

for themselves, or even provide personalised

animations. Meanwhile, companies can display

adverts during service calls to showcase their

business. Zain Kuwait plans to start a trial of lighting

up the screen features in 2023.

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6.3 AIS Thailand

PROOFS OF CONCEPT AND TRIALS

AIS values the innovative use cases enabled by

New Calling. A PoC is being developed, and a ﬁrst

New Calling call is expected in 2023Q3.

6.3.1 Massive consumer and business services

Considering the maturity of the network and the terminal, it is feasible

to initiate consumer services like Intelligent Translation and Visualized

Voice Calling in the initial phase. In Thailand, there are 2 million tourists

each month, as well as about 10,000 global companies. Intelligent

translation is expected to be a powerful tool to break the language

barriers between tourists and tourism practitioners, and between

people working with dierent home languages.

Visualized Voice Calling will be an interested feature for tourists as well,

especially the young people. During the call, people would select the

background of famous scenes, or select their personalized avatars in

front of the scenes.

6.3.2 Interactive business services

As for the next phase, when DC is available on the terminals, more

interactive use cases would be available for interactive business

services. In Thailand, there are many popular APPs that can be

integrated with New Calling. For example, AIS can collaborate with

Taxi APPs to provide ride hailing services. Finding the right pick-up

location is usually a problem, especially for travellers (or even locals).

With 5GNC, both traveller and driver’s locations can be shared in real-

time upon request during a call. Furthermore, they can mark the pick-

up location on the screen directly, helping the driver to pick up the

traveller eciently. Collaboration between operator and restaurants

is also possible via 5GNC. When the customer calls the restaurant’s

receptionist, no waiting time is needed, as the customer can use the

screen to ﬁll in a request form directly. This would also improve the

eciency of the restaurant reservation. In short, with 5GNC, more

opportunities can be explored between operators and a variety of

business users. It is expected that the integrated voice-video-data calls

provided by operators would greatly improve the eciency of business

users.

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The success of 5GNC hinges on all stakeholders playing their part. To

facilitate this collaboration an initiative was launched during the MWC

Barcelona 2023 with a view to create a space where global operators,

network vendors, terminal vendors, and industry partners can

proactively participate in the expansion of the New Calling ecosystem.

The ﬁrst step of industrial cooperation has been taken. It is hoped

that this white paper will be taken as an opportunity for all parties in

the industry to exchange ideas, explore the related business models,

network interconnection, and global standards for terminals and

applications, jointly participate in the construction of 5GNC ecosystem,

in order to achieve the goal of enriching communication and life at an

early date.

Industry

collaboration

Image 8

Companies participating in the launch of the 5G New Calling

Industry Cooperation Initiative during MWC Barcelona 2023,

Spain

Source:

GTI summit at MWC Barcelona 2023

INDUSTRY COLLABORATION

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3GPP

5GC

5GNC

6DoF

API

APP

B2C

C2B

C2C

CCSA

CLIP

COLP

eMMTEL

EPC

Two Dimensional

2nd Generation (of mobile technology)

Three Dimensional

3rd Generation (of mobile technology)

Third Generation Partnership Project

4th Generation (of mobile technology)

5th Generation (of mobile technology)

5G Core (Network)

5G New Calling

6 Degrees of Freedom

6th Generation (of mobile technology)

Artiﬁcial Intelligence

Application Programming Interface

Application

Augmented Reality

Business to Consumer

Consumer to Business

Consumer to Consumer

China Communications Standards Association

Calling Line Identiﬁcation Presentation

Core Network

Connected Line Identity Presentation

(3GPP) Stage 1 of Evolution of IMS Multimedia Telephony Service

Evolved Packet Core (i.e. 4G Core Network)

Term

Description

Glossary

GLOSSARY

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FS_MMTELin5G

GSM

GSMA

IETF

IMS

IMS DC

IMSDCAS

IVR

KPI

5GC

LTE

MMTEL

MoU

MTSI

MWC

OTT

PoC

PRD

QoE

QoS

RBT

SDK

SLAM

(3GPP) Study on evolution of IMS multimedia telephony service

Global System for Mobile (Communication)

GSM Association

Identity

Internet Engineering Task Force

Internet Protocol

IP Multimedia Subsystem

IMS Data Channel

IMS DC API Speciﬁcation

Interactive Voice Response

Key Performance Indicators

5G Core (Network)

Long Term Evolution

Multimedia Telephony

Minutes-of-Use

Mixed Reality

Multimedia Telephony Service for IMS

Mobile World Congress

(GSMA) Networks Group

New Radio

Operating System

over-the-top (player)

Proof of Concept

Permanent Reference Document

Quality of Experience

Quality of Service

Ring Back Tone

Software Development Kit

Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping

Term Description

GLOSSARY

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TSG

UEIMSDC

ViLTE

Vo5GS

VoLTE

VoNR

W3C

(GSMA) Technology Group

(GSMA) Terminal Steering Group

User Equipment

UE IMS DC (device testing)

Video over LTE

Voice over 5G System

Voice over LTE

Voice over NR

Virtual Reality

World Wide Web Consortium

Extended Reality

Term Description

GLOSSARY

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About this whitepaper

This is a GSMA whitepaper and is a public document

subject to copyright protection.

The GSM Association makes no representation,

warranty or undertaking (express or implied) with

respect to and does not accept any responsibility

for, and hereby disclaims liability for the accuracy

or completeness or timeliness of the information

contained in this document. The information

contained in this document may be subject to

change without prior notice.

The information contained herein is in full

compliance with the GSM Association’s antitrust

compliance policy.

About the GSMA Foundry

The GSMA is a global mobile industry association

that represents the interests of mobile operators

worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with

almost 300 companies in the broader mobile

ecosystem, including handset and device makers,

and software companies. The GSMA also holds the

industry-leading events such as MWC (in Barcelona,

Shanghai and Los Angeles) and the Mobile 360

Series.

GSMA Foundry is the go-to place for cross-industry

collaboration and business development, where

GSMA members and industry players come together

to rapidly develop real-world solutions to industry

challenges, nurture new ideas through initial

commercial trials and scale proven solutions at a

regional and global level to forge our digital future.

For more information, please visit

https://www.gsma.com/foundry/projects/5g-new-

calling/.

GSMA Terminal Steering Group

(TSG)

Work on 5G NC is continuing within the GSMA

Terminal Steering Group (TSG) if you would like to

be involved contact Paul Gosden GSMA Terminal

Director.

paul.gosden@gsma.com

RELEASE DATE

APRIL 2023

AUTHOR

NAME SURNAME

GSMA HEAD OFFICE

Floor 2

The Walbrook Building

25 Walbrook

London EC4N 8AF

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)20 7356 0600

Fax: +44 (0)20 7356 0601