Telecom research firm Ovum (News - Alert) has found that voice still accounts for nearly 70 percent of cellular industry revenues. And this won't change any time soon, either. 'As late as 2014, its share of revenues won’t dip below 60 percent in any region of the world,' Ovum officials say.

ABI Research (News - Alert) also estimates that in 2010, worldwide mobile voice revenues will be $580 billion, while their estimate of 2009 worldwide mobile data revenue was approximately $169 billion – with about half of that message-related.

Even with such conspicuous products as Apple’s (News - Alert) new iPad sucking all the oxygen from the room, at heart, it too is essentially a data-only smartphone that can be used to surf the mobile Web.

As the use of such data-oriented devices grows, it’s easy to forget that voice-only customers make up the majority of wireless users internationally—roughly 90 percent, according to the GSM Association. Basically, people like talking to each other. Voice still is, and will be, the killer app, all Twitter to the contrary aside.

However, that presents a problem for traditional mobile carriers. Their new data-centric networks were not designed to provide high-quality voice transmissions – even though voice is the source of most of their revenues, say officials of xG Technology (News - Alert). To rectify this, new services like xG’s xMax Mobile VoIP system are appearing on the market.

xMax is described by company officials as 'a completely new cellular platform that addresses the needs of wireless users today, as well as in the future… a mobile VoIP and data communications system designed to ensure the priority of high quality voice calling.'

While other wireless technologies must be operated in conjunction with a circuit-switched 2G network to offer voice services, xMax was designed to enable high-quality voice and data transmissions across a single, all-IP network with a view to saving operational costs. 

xMax operates over free, public airwaves, which can help deliver substantial savings to consumers on their mobile phone bills as well. Representatives from xG Technology recently presented suggestions to the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet on improving spectrum usage. Both the FCC (News - Alert) and Congress have expressed concern lately about spectrum availability.

Unlicensed spectrum applications have been mentioned as one possible way of helping alleviate the coming spectrum crunch. Because it operates on unlicensed spectrum, the xMax mobile VoIP network 'has the ability to significantly increase both usage and availability,” according to XG officials. 

For network operators, particularly those new to the market, services like xMax that can profitably provide mass-scale mobile voice services— while also supporting the increasing demand for broadband data—will certainly keep people talking. And surfing.