History of

Situation of Global Cellular

Mobile Radio before Digital

• Different Standards World-wide

• Up to 1992 exclusively Analog Radio
Technology
• Analog Cellular still exists in most
countries
• Based on Different Standards
 Different Standards World wide

• AMPS - Advanced Mobile Phone Service

Mainly North and South America, Asia
• TACS - Total Access Communications
Mainly UK, Middle East, European
Countries - Ireland, Spain, Italy and Austria
• NMT - Nordic Mobile Telephone System
Dominates the European Market
Different Standards World wide

The world is covered with a quilt of Analog

Cellular Radio Systems, but ....
– they operate on different Frequency Bands
– they use different Signaling Protocols.
As a result it is not possible to use a
Singular Cellular Phone Throughout
 Commercial Aspects of Cellular
• Cellular Networks Investment is Driven By Two
Goals Coverage and Capacity

1. Coverage determines the geographical area

where a system is available
2. Capacity determines the max number of
subscribers supported by the network
 The Capacity Syndrome

• Restricted Spectrum presented limitations to

operators
• Operators asked for more spectrum
• New Techniques were sought to enhance
capacity without sacrificing quality
 The Capacity Syndrome
Regulators, Operators and the Industry
worked hard to achieve the utmost Network
Capacity by using the latest techniques:
– Narrowband Radios
– Micro cells
– Sectored Cells
– Time - multiplexing digital radio techniques
 The Capacity Syndrome
• Spectrum remained (and still remains) a
precious resource
• Which technology was to provide to best
spectral efficiency
Digital Radio is not, and will not be, the
expected or even the predicted perfect
overall solution to all capacity problems
 Aspects of Quality
Analog has the effect of directly
passing physical influences,
disturbances in radio
transmission

Digital Radio hides these effects

1
0
 Performance Comparison
Quality
GSM

Analog

Noise and Interference

 Aspects of Quality
Under critical and more difficult reception
conditions, digital radios generally perform
significantly better than analog radios ...
... but the transition from good quality
speech to weird noises is extremely
pronounced
 Political and Economic Aspects
• The Regulators demanded a system that
would:
– have the capability and capacity to serve very
large subscriber bases
– provide excellent quality of speech and data
communications
– effect the service with minimal cost to the
subscriber
Political and Economic Aspects

The combination of all these facts and

factors, parameters and restrictions,
demands and compromises, led to the
development and introduction of Digital
Cellular Mobile Standards
Political and Economic Aspects
There were three different approaches
adopted in different regions of the world for
the task of modernising cellular services:
– The US Way
• Develop a system, see if it works, standardize
– The European Way
• get everyone round a table and develop the standard
– The Rest of the World’s Way
• watch the US and Europe and chose the best
What is the GSM Association?
The GSM Association, based in Dublin, Ireland and London, UK,
represents the interests of more than 690 GSM, satellite and 3GSM
operators, key manufacturers and suppliers to the GSM industry as
well as regulatory and administrative bodies from more than 190
countries and regions around the world. Most of the first third
generation licensees are also members. The GSM Association is
responsible for the continued maintenance of open standards and
interoperability. The global cooperation between operators is most
powerfully illuminated by the success of international roaming. One
of the Association's major priorities is the development and
promotion of the GSM standard worldwide
• Is GSM secure?
From the outset, GSM has been a system
designed with stringent levels of inbuilt
security. With constantly enhanced
transmission protocols and algorithms
added to the flexible and future proof
platform, GSM remains the most secure
public wireless standard in the world