Applications and services from 2nd to 3rd generation

Mobile telephony plays an ever increasing role in the telecommunication business. Different markets like computer, audio, video and telecommunication are merging together. New business opportunities and more competition will come up. To pave the way for this promising future a smooth evolution from existing second generation systems to third generation systems has to be ensured. Due to the fact that GSM is the most successful digital system its evolution is one of the most important aspects. Industry experts agree that those businesses best positioned to take advantage of the 3rd generation mobile systems are the current cellular system operators, the majority of whom use the most accepted digital standard today, GSM. Since UMTS, the European broadband 3rd generation mobile communication standard evolves from existing GSM technology, today´s GSM operators are well positioned to become the most significant players in the third generation mobile market. This article provides an overview of the Siemens´ vision of the future of mobile telecommunications. It addresses the likely issues and concerns that are anticipated