EE on Wednesday revealed that it will launch voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) from 7 April on the upcoming Microsoft Lumia 640.

EE's disclosure was made after rival Vodafone announced plans to launch WiFi calling and VoLTE this summer.

A spokesman for the U.K. telco told Total Telecom that WiFi calling will also be offered on the Samsung Galaxy S6 from 10 April.

VoWiFi is self-explanatory in that it enables the user to make and receive voice calls as if conducted over a cellular connection. It is useful for customers living in areas with limited mobile network coverage, or places with poor indoor signal. 3UK offers VoWiFi via its 3 inTouch app, as does O2 with its TU Go app.

EE's disclosure was made after rival Vodafone announced plans to launch WiFi calling and voice over LTE (VoLTE) this summer.

Vodafone said the move is part of its £1 billion network investment plan that includes the deployment of high-definition (HD) voice calling, LTE-A carrier aggregation (CA), and rural open access femtocells.

EE has not announced when it will bring VoLTE to market.

However, EE in February announced it will spend £1.5 billion during the next two years on phase two of its 4G network strategy, which aims to provide 4G coverage to 99% of the population, and roll out LTE-A to the country's 20 biggest cities by 2017. VoLTE is covered under that investment plan.

TotalTele