The mobile communication wave has engulfed us, gaining a level of acceptance and spreading at a pace that has exceeded even the most optimistic predictions. And things are only just beginning. Mobile communication no longer has the one-dimensional meaning of not being tied to individual locations for voice telephony. The billions of SMS short text messages being exchanged clearly point up a need for all-round connectivity. 

As a transmission standard of third generation (3G) mobile radio, UMTS will free us up from resource bottlenecks in network infrastructures, give us access anytime and anywhere to flexible voice, data, and video communication, and so generate added value through innovative services. A performance enhancement is in the offing that will lead to more convenience and greater efficiency. UMTS and the third mobile radio generation are in the process of establishing no more and no less than a new, mobile civilization able to liberate itself from the restrictions of time and space.

Half a billion GSM users:

Success and dynamic growth

770 million people throughout the world now own mobile radio equipment. The vast majority of them, namely 500 million (since May 2001), can be reached using the GSM standard (Global System for Mobile Communication) developed in Europe. According to the GSM Association, the GSM carriers? umbrella organization, there are currently GSM networks on-air in 168 countries. The mobile communication market is displaying unparalleled growth dynamism.

Innovations in mobile business

3G communication and UMTS will make mobile business a reality with an innovative uniqueness. Major core functionalities will be able to merge together for the first time, benefit from synergy effects, and create new utility value.

The "always-on' society

It will be possible for mobile phones, handsets, and mobile terminals of the UMTS generation to be kept permanently ready for operation - "always on'. It will be easier to form virtual communities ("communities of interest?). Personalized service designing will be possible. Each user's familiar service environment will also become mobile; this means providing a mix of services tailored to individual interests and needs (Virtual Home Environment, Virtual Office Environment). The services will be especially capable of offering hints and tips on a proactive basis in relation to location, time, occasion, event, or activity. Messages can then reach users on a context-related (or action-oriented) basis.

Mobile phones that know where they are

Mobile communication will become location-specific. The success factor lies in the ability to put offers in a geographical context. Location-based services are considered to be the "?killer application' of mobile radio technology. They are signposts and navigators, offer important information and services relating to a specific location, and simultaneously filter out what is unimportant. Localization is acquired from the networks using different techniques. Location-specific charge rates will be possible. Advertising tailored to local conditions can generate additional revenues for carriers. Yellow Page entries, for instance, can be given a local geographic reference. Location-based services will provide mobile radio carriers with excellent conditions for entering strategic alliances with content providers or Wireless Application Providers (W-ASPs).

Mobile payment

Being already equipped with basic technologies for secure user authentication (SIM card, PIN identification), mobile phones are considered the terminals predestined for cashless shopping and a wide range of transactions (ordering, booking, banking and brokerage, signing and authorizing). Mobile phones and handsets of the third mobile radio generation are uniquely qualified for use as personal devices that can be used anytime and anywhere for universal, secure, and legally binding transactions (Personal Trusted Devices).

Everything hinges

on the middleware:

Scenarios for 3G communication

The benefits to customers of a "wireless world' consist in the intelligent context-related combining of previously separate functionalities. There is no limit to the multiplicity of applications. A few examples should suffice here. By linking up meteorological data and the auto-location systems used in mobile radio networks, it will be possible to warn mountain hikers, people engaged in hobby sports, and drivers of convertibles about an approaching local storm on their mobile phones. People listening to music on, for instance, an internet radio broadcast can have the title and details about the artist shown on their mobile phone's display. At the same time, appropriate music CDs can be offered or the chance to purchase and download songs at a click. A ticket service can display the artist's next tour dates and allow users to book concert seats straight away. The travel ticket to get there can be ordered online through a travel agency or transport service office. Mobile radio users can enjoy new click-through experiences. Users are only a click away from the ticker service giving share price details about a company that has placed a notice in the financial press, and from here to a broker's trading desk. What have up till now been areas in the "real world' that we have had to deal with separately, namely obtaining information, arranging, and transacting, come very close together indeed in the UMTS infrastructure.

Click-through experience

Real added value and benefit is gained when different service providers cooperate with the carriers, providers such as banks and the providers of financial services, content providers from the media sector, the operators of network businesses, Wireless Application Providers (WASP), and others who combine their services in a user-friendly manner. They occupy a key position as intermediaries in mobile business. Their task is to create the new range of services, the so-called middleware of the mobile markets, whose success will depend on whether bundling and presentation are in line with users? requirements.

Multifunctional terminals

UMTS and 3G mobile radio will unleash a wave of new devices with varying shapes and functions. In conjunction with short-range radio technologies (such as DECT, Bluetooth, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)), several units in close proximity can be interconnected very quickly and simply as required without the use of cables. Companies? round-the-clock access to the intranet and extranet has an important role to play here. A mobile radio enabled terminal will then be able to set up the network connections as a communication server. Instead of being displayed on a mobile phone or handset, incoming e-mails can be viewed straight away on a nearby PC or printed out on the PC's printer. Notebooks, cameras, game consoles, music players, domestic appliances, alarm systems, kiosks, production machines, sensors, barcode scanners, cars. 3G infrastructures allow ?embedded intelligence?, virtually no limitations in implementing communications technology in the widest range of applications and equipment. They provide what is called "pervasive access?: all-pervading, universal freedom of access to telecommunication networks.

Machine-to-machine communication

A large number of application scenarios deal with so-called machine-to-machine communication. Machines automatically report faults or the need for maintenance deployments to the responsible service units. And copiers, for example, trigger a process for reordering toner cartridges. The Gartner Group gave an example of how different devices could be networked into practical applications: An amateur photographer takes picture with his digital camera. Friends and relations are notified of the photos by mobile phone, with personal authorization to load them onto their TV set for viewing or having copies made on an automatic enlarger in a photographic store. The mobile radio terminal always functions here as a tool for identification and for making payments. Diebold Timelabs assumes that as of 2004 wide use will be made of digital business agents that people can ask to carry out fully automated comparisons of book, CD or hardware offers, for instance, and so increase market transparency. The Japanese mobile radio carrier DoCoMo expects that by 2010 only a third of its by then 360 million users will be actual human beings, with other applications being started by cars (100 million), bicycles (60 million), portable PCs (50 million), motorbikes, ships, vending machines for soft drinks, and even people's pets.

On the road to UMTS:

Pre-stages and the basis for the third mobile radio generation

UMTS is very seldom set up in isolation. This way third generation mobile radio can be initiated as part of an evolution (or migration) of the systems above the GSM infrastructure. Existing network infrastructures cannot be expected to be totally replaced by 3G technologies in the near future; there will instead be a gradual changeover to the new technology in the introduction phase.

WAP as the precursor

The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was the first ever standard for transmitting the data of simple internet-based pages and services to mobile phones and other mobile terminals. The limited data transmission capacity in the GSM networks is about to be overcome with the introduction of advanced GSM transmission systems such as GPRS and EDGE, also referred to as "2.5G? mobile radio, and even more by UMTS and the 3G infrastructures. Internet offerings for mobile use have to be programmed using the Wireless Markup Language (WML) page description language and are hosted on special WAP servers that can be accessed from the terminals via a WAP gateway.

Bundled capacities with HSCSD

HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data), a software extension of GSM networks, is employed to allow several circuit switched data links to be used in parallel. HSCSD bundles several GSM channels for the duration of a connection. Bundling four radio channels can achieve a constant transmission rate of 38.4 kbps. A variety of applications are conceivable including high-speed internet access, alongside intranet applications such as e-mail and messaging.

GPRS: Data services with added convenience

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile radio mode is currently being introduced into the market and both operators in Luxembourg were amongst the first to carry out field trials. GPRS is also based on the existing GSM mobile radio networks. Encoding methods are used to increase data speed. The internet Protocol (IP) is being integrated directly into the mobile radio network for the first time. GPRS does initially support quadruple the data transmission speed possible with GSM (giving 38.6 kbps). In contrast to the first circuit-switched and very simply designed WAP applications, this allows more convenient internet use, for example in color with animations and audio sequences. Through the use of what is called packet-switching during transmission, charges for data traffic is based not on connection time but on the volume of data exchanged. This is ideal for "always-on' applications such as subscription information services (news tickers, stock market rates, etc.) and mobile e-mail access.

Performance enhancement with EDGE

EDGE stands for Enhanced Data Rates for Global (originally GSM) Evolution. The performance enhancement in terms of throughput rate is achieved by influencing - modulating ? the transmission frequencies. When these modulations are also applied in combination with encoding methods (as in the case of GPRS), it is possible to achieve data rates of up to 60 kbps and more. However, the capacity is then exhausted and only a limited quality-of-service can be provided. If GPRS is upgraded with EDGE, the term used is EGPRS. EDGE offers some interesting prospects as it can also be used with the D-AMPS TDMA mobile radio system widely employed in the USA. Market harmonization through the matching of standards is in the offing here that may lead to favorable effects of scale (voir illustration).

An increasing demand

for mobile services

In a market survey carried amongst 11.000 Users in 12 European countries including Luxembourg more than 88% of mobile phone users were ready and interested to use at least one of the new mobile services presented above. It appeared that location based services presented the highest attraction, followed closely by m-commerce solutions. The [email protected] i.e. the internet kids were most attracted by the high speed internet access. Above all the survey also showed a substantial willingness to pay up to 68 Euro/month for consumer services whereas professionals appear ready to spend in excess of 120 Euro/month. A promising mobile future indeed!