Evolution of Mobile Technology
GSM to 3G
Ashish Rajhansha
The History of GSM
1980 – Analogue Cellular Telephone Systems
Each country had own system (No compatibility)
1982 – CEPT – Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSM)
European Commission issued directives to reserve 900 MHz bandwidth to enable roaming.
1989 – GSM responsibility transferred to ETSI
ESTI defined GSM as internationally accepted digital cellular telephony standard
1990 – Phase I GSM specifications published
History Cont...
Mid 1991 – Commercial service started
1992 – First GSM network operator – Radiolinja
1993 – 36 GSM networks in 22 countries
Roaming agreement established between operators
1994 – 69 GSM networks
GSM – Global System for Mobile interaction
First network in Africa
1995 – GSM Phase II standardization
History Cont...
1996 – Pre paid SIM cards launched
1997 – First Dual Band GSM phone launched
1998 – Vodacom introduced free Voice mail
1999 – GPRS & WAP trials
Bluetooth specification v1.0 released
2000 – First GPRS network rolled out
2001- Popularity of SMS (16 billion messages)
Evolving Mobile Market & Technology
● Users increased by 20% since 2001●500,000 users being added each day
3G - Expected Costs (Compared to GSM)
WCDMA - 10 times as much traffic as compared to GSM
At cost premium of 1 to 1.5 times that of GSM
20% - 30% lower capital expenditure
60 % fewer sites required for base stations – initial voice coverage
40 % fewer sites required for base stations – data coverage
Key Aspects
Global Roaming – Key driver in massive global success of GSM (Interoperability between networks)
GSM handset models -
Around 600 handset models to choose from
More homogeneous frequency allocation as compared to CDMA
GPRS – A new business model for packet switched services
USIM
USIM - Security access, Virus intrusion, Customer profile, Authentication, Downloading etc.
Prepaid service activation & control
Information services
Directory services
Mobile banking
3G Revenue Growth
3G Service Evolution
Network Evolution
GSM evolution path to 3G
Terminals & Spectrum Development
Perceived PPS environment
Intrapsychic environment – Conceiving it.
Construction/Manufacturing environment – Feasibility
Adaptation environment – Salability
Use environment - Usability
Failure environment – Sustainability
Scrapping environment – Terminability
Political & Ecological environment
ConclusionPatterns of Innovation
GSM – Knight's move ?
Introduction of new unproven digital technology
GSM – to – 3G – More of the same ?
Builds on existing GSM technology
SMS – to – MMS – Passing over quantity over quality ?
Leading to ' infotrainment '