3

rd

Generation
(3G)

HISTORY

3G

technology is the result of research and

development work carried out by the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in
the early 1980s.
The communication spectrum between 400
MHz to 3 GHz was allocated for 3G. Both the
government and communication companies
approved the 3G standard.
The first pre-commercial 3G network was
launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in 1998,

 The

first European pre-commercial network was an UMTS network on

the Isle of Man by Manx Telecom, the operator then owned by British
Telecom, and the first commercial network (also UMTS based WCDMA) in Europe was opened for business by Telenor in December
2001 with no commercial handsets and thus no paying customers.

The

first network to go commercially live was by SK Telecom in South

Korea on the CDMA-based 1xEV-DO technology in January 2002. By
May 2002 the second South Korean 3G network was by KT on EV-DO
and thus the South Koreans were the first to see competition among
3G operators.

The

first commercial United States 3G network was by Monet Mobile

Networks, on CDMA2000 1x EV-DO technology, but this network
provider later shut down operations. The second 3G network operator
in the USA was Verizon Wireless in July 2002 also on CDMA2000 1x EVDO. AT&T Mobility is also a true 3G UMTS network, having completed
its upgrade of the 3G network to HSUPA.

 The first pre-commercial demonstration network in the

southern hemisphere was built in Adelaide, South

Australia by m.Net Corporation in February 2002 using
UMTS on 2,100 MHz. This was a demonstration
network for the 2002 IT World Congress. The first
commercial 3G network was launched by Hutchison
Telecommunications branded asThree or "3" in June
2003. Emtel launched the first 3G network in Africa.

UMTS (UNIVERSAL MOBILE

TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE)

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service) is a third-generation

(3G) broadband,packet-based transmission of text, digitized voice, video,

and multimedia at data rates up to 2 megabits per second (Mbps).

UMTS offers a consistent set of services to mobile computer and phone

users, no matter where they are located in the world. UMTS is based on
the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication standard.

It is also endorsed by major standards bodies and manufacturers as the

planned standard for mobile users around the world. Once UMTS is fully
available, computer and phone users can be constantly attached to the
Internet wherever they travel and, as they roam, will have the same set of
capabilities.

 Users

will have access through a combination of

terrestrialwirelessandsatellitetransmissions. Until
UMTS is fully implemented, users can use multimode devices that switch to the currently available
technology (such as GSM 900 and 1800) where UMTS
is not yet available.

Theelectromagnetic

radiation spectrumfor UMTS

has been identified as frequency bands 18852025MHzfor future IMT-2000 systems, and 19802010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz for the satellite
portion of UMTS systems.

3 STAGES OF MOBILE
COMMUNICATION

1G
2G
3G

3G is the next generation of

technology which has revolutionized
the telecommunication industry. Apart
from increasing the speed of
communication, the objective of this
technology is to provide various value
added services like video calling, live
streaming, mobile internet access,
IPTV, etc on the mobile phones. These

 3G

Technologyis designed for multimedia

communication. It provides services like
higher data transfer rates. One of its key
visions is to provide seamless global
roaming, enabling users to move across
borders while using the same number and
handset. According to ITU it is expected
that
IMT-2000
will
provide
higher
transmission rates:a minimum speed of
2Mbit/s for stationary or walking users, and
348kbit/s in a moving vehicle.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF

3G CORE NETWORKS?
The IMT-2000 family of 3G systems includes three types of Core
Network technology:

GSM based (using Mobile Application Part (MAP) protocols on top

of SS7 protocols for signalling)

ANSI-41 based (IS-634 protocols for signalling)

Internet Protocol based (in future, to be specified)

3G FEATURES
The information is split into separate.
The World Wide Web (WWW) is becoming
the primary communications interface.

Speeds of up to 2 Megabits per second

(Mbps) are achievable with 3G.

3GAPPLICATIONS

Global Positioning System (GPS)

Location-based services
Mobile TV
Telemedicine
Video Conferencing
Video on demand

CONTRIBUTOR TECHNOLOGIES OF 3G

CDMA2000-Code Division Multiple Access.

TD-SCDMA-Time-division Synchronous
Code-division Multiple Access.

W-CDMA (UMTS)- Wideband Code Division

Multiple Access.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CDMA2000 AND

UMTS?

Cdma2000 and UMTS were developed separately and are

2 separate ITU approved 3G standards. Cdma2000

1xRTT, cdma2000 1xEV-DO (EVolution, Data Only) and
future cdma2000 3x were developed to be backward
compatible with cdmaOne. Both 1x types have the same
bandwidth, chip rate and it can be used in any existing
cdmaOne frequency band and network. Backward
compatibility was a requirement for successful
deployment for USA market. It is easy to implement
because operators do not need new frequencies.

 UMTS

was developed mainly for countries with GSM networks,

because these countries have agreed to free new frequency
ranges for UMTS networks. Because it is a new technology and in
a new frequency band, whole new radio access network has to
be build. The advantage is that new frequency range gives
plenty of new capacity for operators.3GPPis overseeing the
standard development and has wisely kept the core network as
close to GSM core network as possible. UMTS phones are not
meant to be backward compatible with GSM systems. (but
subscriptions (=SIM card) can be, and dual mode phone will
solve the compatibility problems, hopefully). UMTS also has 2
flavorsFDD(will be implemented first) andTDD.

WHY IS WCDMA CALLED

"WIDEBAND"?
3G

WCDMA systems have 5MHz bandwidth (one

direction). 5MHz is neither wide nor narrow; it is just the
bandwidth.
New
3G
WCDMA
systems
havewiderbandwidth than existing 2G cdma systems
(cdmaOne 1.25MHz), that's why the "Wide". There are
commercial cdma systems with 20MHz bandwidth.

ARE GSM/GPRS NETWORKS

COMPATIBLE WITH UMTS
NETWORKS?
UMTS networks can be operated with GSM/GPRS networks.

Systems use different frequency bands, so BTSs and

mobiles will (should) not interfere with each other. Some
vendors claim their core network (MSC/HLR/SGSN ect) and
BSC/RNC are UMTS compatible, but most operators will
prefer to build a totally separate/independent UMTS
network. Some of the latest GSM BTSs can also have
UMTS radio parts and share the same rack.

 UMTS

specification is design so that there is

maximum compatibility between GSM and UMTS
systems. Late 2002 there will also be dual/multi
band phones that can be used in GSM and UMTS
networks. Eventually phones will be able to do
handovers between networks.

HOW IS UMTS DIFFERENT FROM CURRENT

SECOND GENERATION NETWORKS?

Higher speech quality that current networks - Addition to

speech traffic UMTS, together with advanced data and
information services, will be a multimedia network.
- UMTS is above 2G mobile systems for its potential to
support 2Mbit/s data rates.
- UMTS is a real global system, comprising both terrestrial
and satellite components.
- Consistent service environment even when roaming via
"Virtual Home Environment" (VHE). A person roaming from
his network to other UMTS operators, user will experience a
consistent set of services thus "feeling" on his home network,
independent of the location or access mode (satellite or
terrestrial)

3G SERVICES ACCESS
A 3G Mobile Phone
A subscription to a mobile telephone
network that supports 3G,
Use of 3G must be enabled for that user.
Automatic access to the 3G may be
allowed by some mobile network
operators, others will charge a monthly
subscription and require a specific opt-in
to use the service as they do with other
non-voice mobile services,

Knowledge of how to send and/ or receive

3G information using their specific model of
mobile phone, including software and
hardware configuration (this creates a
customer service requirement),

A destination to send or receive information

through 3G. From day one, 3G users can
access any web page or other Internet
applications - providing an immediate
critical mass of users.

WHICH NETWORK VENDORS CAN BUILD A TURN

KEY 3G NETWORK?
No network vendor can supply all equipment and components
to the full a 3G network, but quite a few can be a main
contractor to build a turn-key 3G network. Normally network
vendors can bring in partners like service and applications
providers, hand set manufactures, civil work and acquisition
companies etc.
Current short list of main vendors for turn-keyUMTSnetworks:

Alcatel

Ericsson

Lucent

Motorola

Nokia

NortelSiemens/NEC

Current short list of main vendors for turnkeycdma2000networks:

Ericsson
LG Electronics
Lucent
Motorola
Nortel
Samsung

EVOLUTION

On 14 December 2009, Telia Sonera

announced in an official press release
that "We are very proud to be the first
operator in the world to offer our
customers 4G services." With the launch
of their LTE network, initially they are
offering pre-4G (or beyond 3G) services
in Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway.