Mobile phone company Orange has become the first operator in the UK to launch a technology that promises high quality voice calls.

Orange describes its roll-out of Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband (AMR-WB) speech coding technology or “High Definition Voice” as the first major advancement in UK mobile voice calling for 20 years.

HD Voice, which runs on the 3G network, reduces the background noise, hisses and crackles of normal mobile calls to produce a sound quality that has been described as similar to that of FM radio.

Orange mobile customers who take an HD Voice enabled handset will receive the HD Voice service at no extra charge.

New variants of the Nokia 5230, Nokia X6, Nokia E5 and Samsung Omnia Pro will be HD Voice-enabled with further manufactures expected to offer HD handsets in the coming months.

Orange UK officially merged with T- Mobile UK to form Everything Everywhere Ltd in July.

Everything Everwhere chief executive Tom Alexander said of HD Voice: “Although what we use our mobile handsets for has evolved significantly in the past few years - the way we make mobile calls hasn’t changed a great deal since the 1990s.

“So we’re proud to be the first telecommunications brand in the UK to change this and offer customers a revolutionary new calling experience.

“With mobile HD Voice,” he added, “hearing really is believing”.