If you are living in Asia or Europe, might be you are using GSM technology on your mobile phone. Take a quick look at GSM technology:
It is a digital cellular technology that can be used to transmit mobile voice and data services. GSM concept emerged from a cell-based mobile radio system at Bell Laboratories in the year 1970. Global System for Mobile Communication or GSM is the name of a standardization group that was recognized in the year 1982 with the aim to create a common European mobile telephone standard. It is the most known standard in telecommunication worldwide, and it is implemented globally.
GSM is a circuit-switched system that divides all 200 kHz channels into eight 25 kHz time-slots. It can be operated on the mobile communication band 900 MHz as well as 1800 MHz in several parts of the world. In the United States, GSM generally operates in the bands 850 MHz and 1900 MHz. In addition to this, it owns a market share of approx. 70% of the world’s digital cellular subscribers. This technology makes use of narrowband Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) techniques to transmit signals.
The technology of GSM was developed using digital technology. It comes with the ability to carry 64 kbps to 120 Mbps of data rates. In the present era, GSM supports more than one billion cellphone subscribers in more than 210 countries across the globe. It also provides basic to advanced voice as well as data services, including roaming service. Roaming allows users to use GSM phone numbers in another GSM network as well. Global System for Mobile Communication digitizes as well as compresses data and then sends it down via a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own timeslot.
Top Reasons to Choose GSM
GSM technology is highly popular and widely accepted. It delivers a number of benefits, including
- Enhanced spectrum efficiency
- International roaming
- High-quality speech
- Low-cost mobile sets and base stations
- Support for new services
- Ideal for Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) as well as other telephone company services
History of GSM
| Years | Events |
| 1982 | Conference of European Posts and Telegraph (CEPT) launched a GSM group for a pan-European cellular system. |
| 1985 | A list of top recommendations to be generated by the group is acknowledged. |
| 1986 | Field tests were executed to figure out the different radio techniques suggested for the air interface. |
| 1987 | TDMA is selected as the access method. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is signed by telecommunication operators that represent around 12 countries. |
| 1988 | Global System for Mobile Communication is validated. |
| 1989 | ETSI (The European Telecommunications Standards Institute) got the responsibility of the GSM specifications. |
| 1990 | Phase 1 of the GSM specifications is provided. |
| 1991 | The commercial launch of the GSM service occurs, and the DSC1800 specifications are selected. |
| 1992 | The addition of the countries that signed the GSM came forward. Coverage spreads to larger cities as well as airports. |
| 1993 | Coverage of main roads GSM services launches outside Europe. |
| 1994 | Data transmission capabilities were also launched. The number of networks increases to 69 in 43 countries by the end of 1994. |
| 1995 | Next, Phase 2 of the GSM occurs and extended to rural areas. |
| 1996 | In June, 133 networks in 81 countries were operational. |
| 1997 | In July, 200 networks in 109 countries were operational in which around 44 million subscribers globally. |
| 1999 | WAP was launched and become operational in 130 countries with 260 million subscribers. |
| 2000 | General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) was launched. |
| 2001 | In May, over 550 million people started using mobile telecommunications. |
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