Though it took the fixed phone networks over 120 years to arrive at the present stage of development, the cellular communication is still in its teens: the analog cellular began in the early Eighties, followed by the digital cellular just a decade later in 1992 with the first full commercial GSM system heralding the triumph of second generation mobile telephony, with 55 million GSM subscribers world-wide today. Now, we look forward to the third generation of mobile communications arriving by the beginning of the new millennium.

The goal is that third generation systems will support 64 kbps for mobile wide area services, 384 kbps in a slower pedestrian mode, and 2 Mbps for in-office use. The third generation will offer users access to an enormous range of new mobile multimedia services such as videoconferencing, high-speed Internet and intranet access, entertainment, education, public information and business services, telematics, and personal location.

The power and flexibility of the GSM platform have enabled the development of many advanced services and features, and the development process is continuing. Even while work proceeds on defining the third generation systems, the GSM technology is being evolved to provide more advanced data and multimedia services, as well as access to Internet and WWW. The first steps will be the introduction of faster data services, specifically 14.4 kbps and High Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD) which will offer data speeds up to 64 kbps. Beyond these, basic circuit switched services like General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), which represent a quantum leap in providing data speeds of up to about 150 kbps, enable the multimedia capabilities that form the cornerstone of the third generation. Packet-switched data will make it possible to charge by the kilobyte instead of the minute or the second, enabling subscribers to pay for usage rather than usage time, opening the door for the introduction of new applications on the existing GSM infrastructure.

Efforts for third generation systems began just before the launching of the second generation systems like GSM. The initial push for third generation came from ITU, which conceived of third generation as the concept of Future Public Land Mobile Terrestrial System (FPLMTS) being a single global solution which would be adopted everywhere. The 1992 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) allocated spectrum for third generation at 1885-2025 MHz and 2110-220 MHz. Subsequently, the third generation system being developed under the auspices of ITU was renamed IMT-2000.

Concurrently with ITU, Europe was working on its own third generation system known as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) taking over the standardization process. Formed in 1996, the UMTS Forum, an association of operators, regulators, and manufacturers, is working towards a target for the year 2002 for UMTS deployment.

Following the successful standardization process for GSM, European research started in the late Eighties to develop a standard known as UMTS which aims to deliver wide-area/high-mobility data rates of 384 kbps and up to 2 Mbps for local-area/low-mobility coverage.

As UMTS offers an evolution path for GSM/DCS (1800 MHz version of GSM) networks, GSM’s global coverage and international roaming capability with over 300 million subscribers expected by 2001 and continued rapid growth of Internet/intranet usage will drive the demand for UMTS services using dual-mode GSM/UMTS global handsets, with GSM providing coverage and UMTS delivering new functionality.

However, UMTS is a concept whose reality depends on the standpoint of the viewer. For GSM operators, UMTS means Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, the evolution of today’s digital cellular networks to a new generation based on a new wideband air interface. For fixed network operators, UMTS means Universal Mobility of Telecommunications Services, with fixed networks evolving with the introduction of mobility through such techniques as Cordless Terminal Mobility (CTM) and Universal Personal Telecommunications (UPT).

What is becoming clear is that UMTS will not be a single solution which will be adopted everywhere. Rather, it will be a range of access networks and a range of core networks, bound together to form a seamless whole. For this concept to be viable, there must be transparent methods of handover between the different networks and, more importantly, subscribers must be able to port their individual service profile with them across the network boundaries. The Virtual Home Environment concept of UMTS specifies far more than the simple voice roaming offered by GSM, i.e., the entire service profile must be transferable.

The third generation cellular has been defined by ITU as providing voice and data telecommunications in the 2 GHz frequency thus allowing UMTS to fully meet the ITU’s requirements under IMT 2000.

The 2 GHz frequency band (1900-1980 MHz paired with the 2110-2170 MHz spectrum) has already been allocated for the third generation services by many countries in Asia (under IMT-2000), including Japan and South Korea, and Europe with standards bodies actively collaborating on third generation standards. Japan’s largest cellular carrier, NTT DoCoMo, has announced plans to deploy third generation cellular technology in the 2 GHz range by the year 2001 with country-wide GSM network. India should also plan and leverage to provide, besides national/international roaming, advanced voice and data services using UMTS/IMT-2000 air interfaces. Also, the additional third generation frequency spectrum would be one way to solve capacity problems being faced by the GSM operators.

We have to ensure that Chacha Ramdin is able to watch his favourite movie anytime anywhere, stationary or mobile—on his "buzzerbattoo"!