• Immersive Voice and Audio Services: The most significant advancement in voice-call audio technology in decades, will be jointly presented by Nokia, Vodafone and RingCentral highlighting the latest 5G Advanced audio capabilities.
• The joint demonstration underscores the partners’ intention to bring future IVAS-enabled calling experiences to a broad customer base.

Nokia  announced it is working with Vodafone and RingCentral to showcase Immersive Voice and Audio Services   the future of voice communication, providing users with a natural, three-dimensional sound experience even when calling from a remote location. The joint demonstration on the Vodafone booth at MWC 2025 highlights the companies’ commitment to deliver advanced IVAS-enabled business, industrial and consumer use cases and enhance voice communication.

IVAS will transform traditional voice services by adding an immersive audio experience that allows people to hear sound spatially in real-time, making conversations and interaction natural, and lifelike. There are significant opportunities for enhanced audio services, from elevating business communications if dialing into a meeting remotely to transforming industrial operations, education, sports and events, as well as mobile voice calls.

“Showcasing IVAS technology, the future of voice communication, with Vodafone and RingCentral at MWC this year enables us to bring new use cases to life on today’s devices. It highlights our commitment to growing the ecosystem for Immersive Voice and Audio Services while delivering impactful, immersive audio experiences across communications platforms,” said Jyri Huopaniemi, Head of Audio Research, Nokia Technologies.

“Videoconferencing with multiple people dialing in both remotely or from within the office can be an alienating and unproductive experience. That’s why Vodafone is delighted to be at the forefront of new immersive voice technology with Nokia and RingCentral. The virtual surround sound experience possible with immersive voice can enhance business meetings, improve industrial operations in noisy locations like warehouses and transport hubs, and even improve everyday voice calls,” added Nadia Benabdallah, Network Strategy and Engineering Director, Vodafone.

“Voice is more than just sound —it conveys intent, tone, and emotion in a way that written messages never can. With IVAS Spatial Audio we’re restoring the power of voice as the most natural way to connect and collaborate and demonstrating how voice can address hybrid work equity, promote inclusivity for visually impaired workers, and unlock the potential of AI-enhanced collaboration,” commented Homayoun Razavi, EVP & General Manager of Global Service Providers at RingCentral.

Developed through the collaboration of 13 companies, the IVAS standard was included in the 3GPP Release 18, building on the widely used Enhanced Voice Services (EVS) known as HD Voice+.

One of the key innovations during IVAS standardization was the creation of a new parametric audio format, Metadata-Assisted Spatial Audio (MASA), designed specifically for devices with design constraints and challenging form factors for spatial audio, like smartphones. The IVAS codec integrates a built-in renderer that supports head-tracked binaural audio and multi-loudspeaker playback for immersive formats, including MASA.

To enable the experiences at Mobile World Congress an immersive voice client software development kit serves as the IVAS front-end, capturing spatial audio from device microphones and converting it into the standardized MASA format. This technology enables true 3D immersive audio experiences for various types of voice calls.

Experience new IVAS concepts at MWC 2025

As part of imagining future calling with IVAS the following benefits will be available to experience on the Vodafone and Nokia booths.

Multi-stream teleconferencing: Showcasing seamless audio for complex, multi-participant meetings, where remote participants can feel left out or struggle to follow discussions. IVAS enabled teleconferencing services bridge this gap by enabling:

• Spatially distinguishing voices: Each speaker occupying a unique auditory position, making it easy to identify and follow conversations in real time.
• Inclusive soundscapes: Giving remote participants the sense of being “in the room” with their colleagues.
• Reducing cognitive strain: Natural soundscapes reduce the mental effort needed to process complex discussions, improving engagement and participation.

Immersive 1-to-1 calling: Enjoying a truly immersive, spatial audio calling allows for richer, more engaging voice interactions as well as immersion in the callers surrounding area through:

• Closeness and clarity: 360° audio transforms calling experiences allowing you to step into the world of the caller, creating natural interaction for a truly shared experience.

• Accurate directional sound: With head-tracking enabled headphones, the audio adjusts to reflect the direction of the sound source, making it easier to distinguish exactly where the sounds are coming from, in real time.

Enhanced access in industrial environments: IVAS Spatial Audio is adaptable to dynamic environments and facilitates new audio enabled skills including:

• Enhanced remote servicing or critical operations: Helping detect and isolate abnormal machine sounds in factory environments.
• Improving communication in high-noise workplaces: enabling clear communications in manufacturing plants and construction sites.

In short, IVAS addresses the growing demand for both enhanced voice and immersive multimedia services across various communication platforms.

The new IVAS technology concepts are on show at MWC 2025 from March 3-6 on the Vodafone booth Hall 3 Stand 3E11, on the Nokia booth Hall 3 Stand 3B20, or in RingCentral’s Executive Meeting Room 12Ex, Hall 7E. This showcases future opportunities for new products that leverage both the 5G Advanced IVAS codec and Nokia’s Immersive Voice technology.