Satellite-PCN and the evolution to UMTS

The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), is an European standards development within the framework of the ITU´s Future Public Land Mobile Telephone System (FLMTS) initiative, now known as IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications at 2000 MHz). It is intended to support a wide range of services, with terminal mobility being a prime requirement. However, UMTS must not only be functional; if it is to attract the large investment necessary from operators it must also be more efficient in operation than the current generation of terrestrial systems. It is apparent that to provide mobility beyond the more densely populated regions at competitive prices, UMTS will require in addition to the terrestrial component, a satellite component. The paper gives a brief overview of the state of satellite personal communications today, and the proposals to provide service ante-UMTS. It then considers some options for integrating the satellite components with the terrestrial components of the UMTS