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Standing
for "Universal Mobile Telecommunications System", UMTS
represents an evolution in terms of services and data speeds from
today's "second generation" mobile networks. As a key
member of the "global family" of third generation (3G)
mobile technologies identified by the ITU, UMTS is the natural evolutionary
choice for operators of GSM networks, currently representing a customer
base of more than 850 million end users in 195 countries and representing
over 70% of today's digital wireless market.
Using fresh
radio spectrum to support increased numbers of customers in line
with industry forecasts of demand for data services over the next
decade and beyond, "UMTS" is synonymous with a choice
of WCDMA radio access technology that has already been selected
by approaching 120 licensees worldwide.
WHAT IS UMTS?
Universal Mobile
Telecommunication System (UMTS) is one of the third generation (3G)
mobile phone technologies. It uses WCDMA as the underlying standard
and is standardized by the Third Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) and represents the European answer to International Telecommunication
Union's (ITU) International Mobile Telecommunication 2000 requirements
for 3G cellular radio systems. UMTS is sometimes marketed as 3GSM,
emphasizing the combination of the nature of the technology and
the GSM standard, which it was, designed to succeed.
FEATURES
UMTS supports
up to 1920 kbit/s data transfer rates, although typical users can
expect performance of around 384 kbit/s in a heavily loaded real-world
system. However, this is still much greater than the 14.4 kbit/s
of a single GSM error-corrected data channel or multiple 14.4 kbit/s
channels in HSCSD, and offers the first prospect of practical inexpensive
access to the World Wide Web on a mobile device and general use
of MMS. The precursor to 3G is the now widely used GSM mobile telephony
system, referred as 2G. There is also an evolution path from 2G,
called GPRS, also known as 2.5G. GPRS supports a much better data
rate (up to a maximum of 140.8kbit/s) and is packet based rather
than connection oriented. It is deployed in many places where GSM
is used.
In the near
future today's UMTS networks will be upgraded with High Speed Downlink
Packet Access (HSDPA). This will make a downlink transfer speed
of up to 10 Mbit/s possible.
Marketing material
for UMTS has emphasised the possibility of mobile videoconferencing,
although whether there is actually a mass market for this service
remains untested.
Other possible
uses for UMTS include the downloading of music.
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