Dramatic developments have been taking place in the mobile radio area all over the world during the last couple of decades. Mobile communications is one of the fastest growing markets in the telecommunications area. According to projections, there will be a linear increase in the number of subscribers to the major GSM networks operated in Europe by the end of the decade. The political environment in Europe is the main reason for the rapid development. Without a free exchange of information, the concept of an internal market striving for a free flow of goods between EU states would be inconceivable | Mobile Radio Networks Networking and Protocols. Bernhard H. Walke Copyright 1999 John Wiley Sons Ltd ISBNs 0-471-97595-8 Hardback 0-470-84193-1 Electronic 5 Third-Generation Cellular UMTS Dramatic developments have been taking place in the mobile radio area all over the world during the last couple of decades. Mobile communications is one of the fastest growing markets in the telecommunications area. According to projections there will be a linear increase in the number of subscribers to the major GSM networks operated in Europe by the end of the decade. The political environment in Europe is the main reason for the rapid development. Without a free exchange of information the concept of an internal market striving for a free flow of goods between EU states would be inconceivable. This was the line of thinking behind the liberalization and deregulation of the telecommunications industry which promoted and accelerated competition and opened up the markets. Another reason for this rapid development is the advances being made in the microelectronics microprocessor and transmission technology areas. These advances are enabling the use of ever smaller terminal equipment with computing power previously only possible with mainframes and with low power consumption factors that have improved customer acceptance. In Europe the development of uniform standards the introduction of European-wide radio systems and the participation of industry in the standardization process through the establishment of ETSI have further contributed to the widespread success of mobile communications. The chronological development of different kinds of mobile radio networks which conform to different user needs is presented in Figure 23 . The systems that fall into the category of first-generation mobile communications systems in which mobility is only ensured within a specific network area are the different analogue cellular systems . C-Netz NMT cordless systems CT1 CT2 and various .
