Sprint Corp. will release a technology called "HD Voice", which is designed to improve the quality of cell-phone calls.
The company said Tuesday that the technology will be featured in phones nationwide by "mid-year", according to CNN.
While most people are able to hear within ten octaves, current cell phone calls can only stretch to four. HD voice increases the cell phone's range to seven octaves, and also features technology that blocks out background noise, which makes calls sound more natural.
Dan Hesse, chief executive of Sprint, said the technology currently exists only in a few cities - New York, Miami, Chicago and Dallas among them, The New York Times reported.
Hesse added, however, that HD voice would only work on Sprint-to-Sprint calls on supporting phones, since Sprint is delivering HD calls with its older network and compression technology.
According to the Group Speciale Mobile (GSM) Association, HD Voice is considered to be a standard technology, The New York Times reported. The association set rules for networks who want to use the "HD voice" logo.
David Hutton, director of technology for the association, said that if conforming technology was being used by all carriers and manufacturers, "there's no reason they shouldn't be interoperable with another network that supports the HD voice logo."
However, Hutton added, "ultimately, the operators will initially market the technology with their own subscribers first and foremost."
AT&T said in January that it would introduce HD voice to its phones, despite making the same statement last year. Verizon mentioned including the technology, "sometime in 2014," The New York Times reported.
Sprint also announced Tuesday a partnership with Spotify. In the arrangement, the streaming service will be available to Sprint users for free for six months, and will have a discounted rate for the following 18 months, CNN reported.
The company has also partnered with HTC and Harman Kardon on the HTC One M8, a Sprint-exclusive phone that will be released next month.
