Ukrainian operator Kyivstar went from about 1.4 million Wi-Fi calling (VoWiFi) users in December 2025 to over 2.6 million in November 2026, nearly doubling in 11 months (Kyivstar data via Hi-Tech.ua, February 2026, and dev.ua, November 2026). Pakistan’s Jazz reports 11 million users of its JazzFi Wi-Fi calling service, launched in July 2023 (Jazz via Associated Press of Pakistan, October 2026), and Ericsson estimates that we spend 90% of our time indoors, where outdoor cell signals have to pass through walls (Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2023). Wi-Fi calling sits alongside the cellular IMS voice rollout tracked in our VoLTE and VoNR deployment statistics, but it answers a different problem: the call that fails indoors. We aggregated data from the GSMA, Ericsson, Opensignal, Ookla, peer-reviewed measurement studies in IEEE Access and ACM MobiSys, and operator disclosures from Kyivstar, Jazz, Asiacell, GO and BSNL.
TL;DR
- 423 Wi-Fi calling gateway (ePDG) domains were visible in public DNS across 109 countries (Gegenhuber et al., ACM MobiSys 2024, data from 2023).
- 14.6% of operators reachable over IPv4 geoblock Wi-Fi calling access from abroad (Gegenhuber et al., ACM MobiSys 2024).
- Kyivstar VoWiFi users: about 1.4 million (December 2025) to over 2.6 million (November 2026) (Kyivstar via dev.ua, 2026).
- Jazz JazzFi reached 11 million users by October 2026 (Jazz via APP, 2026).
- Wi-Fi calling took 15% of daily call time in a China Telecom trial (GSMA white paper, March 2025).
- BSNL switched on Wi-Fi calling in every Indian telecom circle on January 1, 2026 (All India Radio News, 2026).
- 90% of time is spent indoors, where up to 80% of mobile data is consumed (Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2023).
- Fixed broadband, including Wi-Fi, carried about 62% of smartphone data across 12 Asia-Pacific markets in October to December 2025 (Opensignal via DigiconAsia).
- A lossless VoWiFi call scored PESQ 4.0, and packet loss must stay under 4% for good quality (Luglio et al., IEEE Access 2024).
- Airport Wi-Fi delivered a 101.39 Mbps median download vs 219.24 Mbps on mobile in the first half of 2025 (Ookla via RCR Wireless).
1. Where Wi-Fi Calling Is Live: Gateways, Countries and New Launches
There is no public, current global count of Wi-Fi calling operators. The newest GSMA Future Networks launch list we could find is dated January 2018, and the GSMA’s March 2025 white paper only says the service has been deployed by numerous operators over the past decade. The most rigorous replacement is an internet-wide measurement: researchers at the University of Vienna and SBA Research generated about 1.1 million candidate names for the ePDG, the operator gateway a phone connects to when it places a Wi-Fi call, and checked which ones exist. They found 423 ePDG domains with IPv4 addresses across 109 countries, of which 375 domains in 101 countries answered an IKE probe (IKE is the key-exchange handshake that opens the encrypted tunnel) from at least one vantage point (Gegenhuber, Frenzel and Weippl, ACM MobiSys 2024).
The same study found that a share of operators restrict where the service works: 14.6% of operators over IPv4 and 65.2% over IPv6 geoblock access, which matters for the travel use case covered in our roaming revenue statistics. Rollout has not stopped either. Iraq, Malta and India’s state operator all switched the service on between September 2025 and January 2026, and GO in Malta started with iPhones only, a reminder that handset firmware, not the network, often sets the pace (GO plc, September 2025).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi calling gateway (ePDG) domains found in public DNS, IPv4, July to August 2023 | 423 domains in 109 countries | Gegenhuber et al., ACM MobiSys 2024 |
| ePDG domains answering a connection handshake (IKE) probe from at least one vantage point, IPv4 | 375 domains in 101 countries | Gegenhuber et al., ACM MobiSys 2024 |
| Operators that geoblock Wi-Fi calling access from abroad, IPv4 vs IPv6 | 14.6% vs 65.2% | Gegenhuber et al., ACM MobiSys 2024 |
| Operator-specific Wi-Fi calling settings stored in one Android phone image (Xiaomi 13 Pro, January 2024) | 270 | Gegenhuber et al., ACM WiSec 2024 |
| Asiacell, first Wi-Fi calling service in Iraq | Announced September 2025, activated free for all subscribers | Asiacell via TechAfrica News, September 11, 2025 |
| GO, first Wi-Fi calling service in Malta | September 23, 2025, iPhone 7 and later at launch | GO plc press release, 2025 |
| BSNL (India) nationwide Wi-Fi calling rollout | Every telecom circle (licence area), announced January 1, 2026 | All India Radio News, 2026 |
| Smartphone models compatible with Kyivstar VoLTE and VoWiFi | More than 500 (February 2026) to over 1,300 (November 2026) | Kyivstar via Hi-Tech.ua and dev.ua, 2026 |
Context note: an ePDG domain is not the same as an operator, since one operator can run several domains and some domains may be test entries. Most recent available data: measurement campaign of July to August 2023, published 2024.
2. Subscriber Uptake and Share of Voice Traffic
The uptake numbers that exist come from operators that chose to publish them, and they point the same way. Kyivstar’s VoWiFi base nearly doubled in 11 months, and the share of its voice traffic carried as IP voice (VoLTE plus VoWiFi) rose from more than 40% to over 55% (dev.ua, November 2, 2026). Growth that fast after a December 2024 launch suggests the service is reaching ordinary subscribers, not just enthusiasts who dig into phone settings.
The most precise split of Wi-Fi versus cellular minutes comes from a trial rather than a commercial network: in China Telecom’s pilots, Wi-Fi calling users averaged 16.8 minutes a day on Wi-Fi, 15% of their total daily call time (GSMA white paper, March 2025). Launches such as Asiacell’s now activate the feature automatically, which sidesteps the awareness gap that older independent surveys found.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Kyivstar subscribers making calls via VoWiFi | About 1.4 million (December 2025) to over 2.6 million (November 2026) | Kyivstar via Hi-Tech.ua (February 18, 2026) and dev.ua (November 2, 2026) |
| Kyivstar voice traffic carried over VoLTE and VoWiFi combined | More than 40% (reported February 2026) to over 55% (reported November 2026) | Kyivstar via Hi-Tech.ua and dev.ua, 2026 |
| Same combined share in Lviv, Kyivstar’s leading city | 61% (reported February 2026) to over 70% (reported November 2026) | Kyivstar via Hi-Tech.ua and dev.ua, 2026 |
| Jazz (Pakistan) JazzFi Wi-Fi calling users | 11 million (October 2026), service launched July 2023 | Jazz via Associated Press of Pakistan, October 16, 2026 |
| Daily Wi-Fi calling time per user in China Telecom trials, and its share of total daily call time | 16.8 minutes, 15% | GSMA, Enriched Service over Converged Wi-Fi and Cellular, March 2025 |
| Consumers using Wi-Fi calling often vs consumers who had never heard of it or did not know how to turn it on (about 5,000 surveyed) | 25% vs 32% | Global Wireless Solutions via RCR Wireless, November 2019 |
Context note: Jazz’s 11 million is a cumulative user count, not a monthly active figure. Most recent available data for an independent consumer survey: Global Wireless Solutions, 2019.
3. Wi-Fi Time: How Much of a Phone’s Day Already Runs on Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi calling only works if the phone is on Wi-Fi, so time on Wi-Fi is the ceiling on its reach. That ceiling varies sharply by market. Opensignal’s analysis of 12 Asia-Pacific markets for October to December 2025 found that fixed broadband, including Wi-Fi, still carried about 62% of smartphone data traffic, with mobile above half in some markets (Opensignal via DigiconAsia, 2026). In the Philippines, users spend 56% of their time connected to Wi-Fi (Opensignal via Philstar, February 4, 2026).
The US is at the other extreme for data: Opensignal found Wi-Fi closing in on 90% of smartphone data and above 80% even away from home, with cable-owned mobile brands at the top (Opensignal via Wi-Fi NOW, November 2024). Not every Wi-Fi voice minute is an operator Wi-Fi call, though: crowdsourced data from WePlan Analytics shows messaging-app calls (OTT, short for over-the-top) running over Wi-Fi in large numbers in the US and Brazil (WePlan Analytics, October 2025).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Smartphone data carried by fixed broadband including Wi-Fi, 12 Asia-Pacific markets, October to December 2025 | About 62% | Opensignal, One Region, Two Paths, via DigiconAsia, 2026 |
| Philippines: share of time on Wi-Fi / share of users who rely solely on mobile data | 56% (fourth highest in the region) / 5% | Opensignal via Philstar, February 2026 |
| US smartphone data carried over Wi-Fi, all users | Closing in on 90% | Opensignal via Wi-Fi NOW, November 2024 |
| US Wi-Fi share of smartphone data, range across carriers | 82% to 89% | Opensignal via Wi-Fi NOW, November 2024 |
| US Wi-Fi share of smartphone data away from home | Above 80% in nearly all cases | Opensignal via Wi-Fi NOW, November 2024 |
| Wi-Fi hotspots claimed by Comcast vs Charter in their footprints (company claims) | More than 23 million vs about 25 million | Comcast and Charter via RCR Wireless, January 2025 |
| US calls made through messaging apps, and the share of those placed over Wi-Fi | Around 30%, almost half | WePlan Analytics, October 2025 (2.4 billion calls analysed) |
| Brazil calls made through messaging apps, and the share of those placed over Wi-Fi | 64%, 60% | WePlan Analytics, October 2025 |
Context note: WePlan does not publish how calls were captured or classified, and its app-call figures are not operator Wi-Fi calling. Most recent available US data: Opensignal, October 2024.
4. Indoor Coverage: Why Operators Move Calls onto Wi-Fi
The business case for Wi-Fi calling is an indoor one. We spend 90% of our time indoors, and up to 80% of mobile data is consumed there, according to Ericsson, which also found indoor users generating 1.5 to 2 times more traffic per user than outdoor users (Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2023). The demand sits indoors while the cell sites sit outdoors, and building walls weaken the signal in between. No source we found publishes a current share of voice calls made indoors; the 80% figure above refers to data, not calls.
China Telecom’s trials in chain hotels, basements and rural areas, summarised in the table below, show what a Wi-Fi path adds where the cell signal is weak: coverage and call success both rose once phones could fall back to Wi-Fi. That is the same reason Asiacell gave for its launch in Iraq: tall buildings, basements and remote areas.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Share of time people spend indoors | 90% | Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2023 |
| Share of mobile data consumed indoors | Up to 80% | Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2023 |
| Mobile traffic per indoor user compared with per outdoor user | 1.5 to 2 times more | Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2023 |
| Likelihood of switching operator (churn) for users with connectivity problems at venues and airports, vs users without | Three times more likely | Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2023 |
| Average service coverage rate in weak-signal trial areas after Wi-Fi calling was enabled | +35.7% | GSMA white paper (China Telecom trials 2023 to 2024), March 2025 |
| Average call success rate in the same trial areas | +21% | GSMA white paper (China Telecom trials 2023 to 2024), March 2025 |
| Surveyed Wi-Fi calling users reporting better signal and call quality | 80% of 1,099 users | GSMA white paper (China Telecom trials 2023 to 2024), March 2025 |
Context note: the China Telecom results are an operator trial reported in an industry white paper, not an independent audit. Most recent available data for indoor traffic share: Ericsson, November 2023.
5. Measured Call Quality: PESQ, Packet Loss and Signal Thresholds
Independent, recent measurements of commercial Wi-Fi calls are rare, which makes one 2024 study especially useful. Researchers at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and Link Campus University placed real VoWiFi calls on a national LTE operator with a Xiaomi phone and scored them with PESQ (ITU-T P.862, an objective score that predicts how listeners would rate the audio). A lossless VoWiFi call averaged PESQ 4.0, and the good-quality threshold of 3.0 held as long as packet loss stayed below 4% (Luglio, Roseti and Zampognaro, IEEE Access 2024). The weak point is the Wi-Fi radio itself: the phone dropped the service when signal strength fell below about -75 dBm.
Operator-side data in the table points the same way, from the China Telecom trial’s change in MOS (mean opinion score, the average 1-to-5 rating listeners give a call) to Kyivstar’s own satisfaction survey, although neither is an independent test. For how these scores compare with cellular drive tests, see our cellular voice quality MOS statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average PESQ score of a VoWiFi call with no added packet loss (maximum achievable in the test setup: 4.55) | 4.0 | Luglio et al., IEEE Access 2024 |
| Packet loss limit to keep PESQ at or above the good-quality threshold of 3.0 | Below 4% | Luglio et al., IEEE Access 2024 |
| Wi-Fi signal strength (RSSI) below which the phone deactivated Wi-Fi calling | About -75 dBm | Luglio et al., IEEE Access 2024 |
| Minimum network capacity per VoWiFi call, in each direction | About 65 kbit/s | Luglio et al., IEEE Access 2024 |
| Suggested maximum simultaneous VoWiFi calls per access point, 802.11ac and 802.11ax | About 50 | Luglio et al., IEEE Access 2024 |
| Change in average MOS in weak-coverage trial areas after Wi-Fi calling was enabled | +50% | GSMA white paper (China Telecom trials), March 2025 |
| Kyivstar VoLTE and VoWiFi users who rate the call quality highly (operator survey) | About 90% | Kyivstar via dev.ua, November 2026 |
| Users saying Wi-Fi calling worked as well as or better than cellular vs users who turned it off over worse performance | 88% vs 12% | Global Wireless Solutions via RCR Wireless, November 2019 |
Context note: we found no independent 2024 to 2026 measurement of handover drop rates between Wi-Fi and cellular calls. Most recent available survey data: Global Wireless Solutions, 2019 (RCR Wireless).
6. The Wi-Fi Underneath: Network Performance That Voice Depends On
A Wi-Fi call inherits every weakness of the access point it rides on, and public venues are where that shows. In the first half of 2025, mobile networks delivered a median 219.24 Mbps at the top 50 US airports, about twice the 101.39 Mbps of airport Wi-Fi, and over 70% of those airports still use Wi-Fi 5 (Ookla via RCR Wireless, December 2025). Speed is not what a voice call needs most, since a call needs only about 65 kbit/s each way (see section 5), but old, crowded access points are also where jitter and loss build up.
Homes are slowly upgrading. In the ten European countries with the most Wi-Fi 7 users at the end of 2024, Wi-Fi 7 posted a 13 ms median latency, just over 11% lower than Wi-Fi 6, yet older Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 still made up 84% of connections in Ireland (Ookla via Advanced Television, February 2025). Router generations and shipments are covered in our Wi-Fi 7 router statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median download at the top 50 US airports, mobile networks vs airport Wi-Fi, first half of 2025 | 219.24 Mbps vs 101.39 Mbps | Ookla via RCR Wireless, December 2025 |
| Top 50 US airports where each carrier was faster than airport Wi-Fi: Verizon / T-Mobile / AT&T | 34 / 32 / 28 | Ookla via RCR Wireless, December 2025 |
| Wi-Fi 6 share of Wi-Fi connections, US overall vs US airports | 44.2% vs 26.2% | Ookla via RCR Wireless, December 2025 |
| Median latency on Wi-Fi 7 in the top ten European Wi-Fi 7 countries, end of 2024 | 13 ms (just over 11% lower than Wi-Fi 6) | Ookla via Advanced Television, February 2025 |
| Share of connections still on Wi-Fi 4 or Wi-Fi 5, end of 2024: Ireland / Portugal / Spain | 84% / 78% / 75% | Ookla via Advanced Television, February 2025 |
| Wi-Fi calling network guidance: maximum jitter, and packet loss considered acceptable vs high | Below 30 ms; 1 to 2% acceptable, above 5 to 7% high | GSMA white paper, March 2025 |
Context note: Ookla’s figures measure data sessions, not voice calls, and the Europe figures are most recent available data from the end of 2024.
Summary: Wi-Fi Calling (VoWiFi) Adoption and Call Quality by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi calling gateway (ePDG) domains in public DNS, IPv4 | 423 in 109 countries (2023) | Gegenhuber et al., ACM MobiSys 2024 |
| Operators geoblocking Wi-Fi calling from abroad, IPv4 | 14.6% | Gegenhuber et al., ACM MobiSys 2024 |
| Kyivstar VoWiFi users | About 1.4 million to over 2.6 million (December 2025 to November 2026) | Kyivstar via dev.ua, 2026 |
| Kyivstar voice traffic on VoLTE and VoWiFi combined | Over 55% (November 2026) | Kyivstar via dev.ua, 2026 |
| Jazz JazzFi users | 11 million (October 2026) | Jazz via APP, 2026 |
| BSNL (India) nationwide Wi-Fi calling rollout | Every telecom circle, January 1, 2026 | All India Radio News, 2026 |
| Wi-Fi calling share of daily call time, China Telecom trial | 15% (16.8 minutes a day) | GSMA white paper, 2025 |
| Time spent indoors | 90% | Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2023 |
| Mobile data consumed indoors | Up to 80% | Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2023 |
| Smartphone data on fixed broadband incl. Wi-Fi, 12 Asia-Pacific markets | About 62% (October to December 2025) | Opensignal via DigiconAsia, 2026 |
| Brazil calls made through messaging apps, and share of those over Wi-Fi | 64%, 60% | WePlan Analytics, October 2025 |
| Consumers using Wi-Fi calling often vs never heard of it or unable to turn it on | 25% vs 32% (2019) | Global Wireless Solutions via RCR Wireless, 2019 |
| PESQ of a lossless VoWiFi call | 4.0 | Luglio et al., IEEE Access 2024 |
| Packet loss limit for good VoWiFi quality (PESQ 3.0) | Below 4% | Luglio et al., IEEE Access 2024 |
| Median download at top 50 US airports, mobile vs Wi-Fi | 219.24 vs 101.39 Mbps (first half of 2025) | Ookla via RCR Wireless, 2025 |
| Top 50 US airports still using Wi-Fi 5 | Over 70% | Ookla via RCR Wireless, 2025 |
Methodology and Sources
- GSMA 5G Voice over Wi-Fi Task Force: Enriched Service over Converged Wi-Fi and Cellular Network, white paper, March 2025 (China Telecom trial results and network guidance)
- Gegenhuber, Frenzel and Weippl (University of Vienna, SBA Research): Why E.T. Can’t Phone Home: A Global View on IP-based Geoblocking at VoWiFi, ACM MobiSys 2024
- Gegenhuber, Frenzel and Weippl: Never Gonna Give You Up: Exploring Deprecated NULL Ciphers in Commercial VoWiFi Deployments, ACM WiSec 2024
- Luglio, Roseti and Zampognaro: End-to-End Network Requirements for 3GPP Voice Over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) Service, IEEE Access, vol. 12, 2024
- Ericsson: Mobile broadband indoor deployment, Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2023
- Kyivstar data: Hi-Tech.ua, February 18, 2026 and dev.ua, November 2, 2026
- Jazz: JazzFi reaches 11 million users, Associated Press of Pakistan, October 2026
- Asiacell: TechAfrica News, September 11, 2025
- GO plc: GO brings Malta’s first VoWiFi service to customers, September 2025
- BSNL: All India Radio News, January 1, 2026
- Opensignal Asia-Pacific analysis (October to December 2025 data): DigiconAsia and Philstar, February 4, 2026
- Opensignal US analysis (October 2024): Wi-Fi NOW, November 1, 2024
- Comcast and Charter hotspot claims: RCR Wireless, January 14, 2025
- WePlan Analytics: Phone calls: from paid minutes to free connections, October 2025
- Global Wireless Solutions survey: RCR Wireless, November 6, 2019
- Ookla airport analysis (first half of 2025): RCR Wireless, December 17, 2025
- Ookla European Wi-Fi analysis (end of 2024): Advanced Television, February 26, 2025
- Data watch: neither the GSMA nor any regulator we checked publishes a current count of operators or countries offering Wi-Fi calling; the GSMA’s public launch list stops in January 2018, so the ePDG scan (2023 data) is a proxy, and domains do not map one to one onto operators. Kyivstar’s traffic shares combine VoLTE and VoWiFi and cannot be split, and its compatible-model count jumped from more than 500 to over 1,300 between two reports, which may reflect a change in counting rather than new phones. Jazz reports cumulative users, not monthly actives. Opensignal and Ookla pages blocked automated access, so their figures are cited through named intermediaries that attribute them; Opensignal’s Asia-Pacific report itself could not be read in full, so region-wide figures that appeared only in search snippets (such as the regional share of mobile-only users) were left out. WePlan’s methodology is undisclosed and counts app calls, not operator Wi-Fi calling. We found no independent recent data on handover drop rates or on the share of voice calls made indoors. Ofcom’s Mobile Matters and Connected Nations reports, which track UK time on Wi-Fi and indoor coverage, could not be retrieved for this edition.
Last updated: November 8, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when the Ericsson Mobility Report November 2026 edition and Ofcom’s next Mobile Matters report are published.