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# GSM - Overview

# What is GSM?

If you are in Europe, Asia or Japan and using a mobile phone then most probably you must be using GSM technology in your mobile phone.

- GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communication and is an open, digital cellular technology used for transmitting mobile voice and data services.
- The GSM emerged from the idea of cell-based mobile radio systems at Bell Laboratories in the early 1970s.
- The GSM is the name of a standardization group established in 1982 to create a common European mobile telephone standard.
- The GSM standard is the most widely accepted standard and is implemented globally.
- The GSM is a circuit-switched system that divides each 200kHz channel into eight 25kHz time-slots. GSM operates in the 900MHz and 1.8GHz bands in Europe and the 1.9GHz and 850MHz bands in the US.
- The GSM is owning a market share of more than 70 percent of the world's digital cellular subscribers.
- The GSM makes use of narrowband Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technique for transmitting signals.
- The GSM was developed using digital technology. It has an ability to carry 64 kbps to 120 Mbps of data rates.
- Presently GSM support more than one billion mobile subscribers in more than 210 countries throughout of the world.
- The GSM provides basic to advanced voice and data services including Roaming service. Roaming is the ability to use your GSM phone number in another GSM network.

A GSM digitizes and compresses data, then sends it down through a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot. It operates at either the 900 MHz or 1,800 MHz frequency band.

# Why GSM?

The GSM study group aimed to provide the followings through the GSM:

- Improved spectrum efficiency.
- International roaming.
- Low-cost mobile sets and base stations (BSs)
- High-quality speech
- Compatibility with Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and other telephone company services.
- Support for new services.

# GSM Brief History:

Following table shows many of the important events in the rollout of the GSM system; other events were introduced, but had less significant impact on the overall systems.

Years | Events
--- | ---
1982 | CEPT establishes a GSM group in order to develop the standards for a pan-European cellular mobile system.
1985 | A list of recommendations to be generated by the group is accepted.
1986 | Field tests are performed to test the different radio techniques proposed for the air interface.
1987 | Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) is chosen as the access method (with Frequency Division Multiple Access [FDMA]). The initial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is signed by telecommunication operators representing 12 countries.
1988 | GSM system is validated.
1989 | The responsibility of the GSM specifications is passed to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
1990 | Phase 1 of the GSM specifications is delivered.
1991 | Commercial launch of the GSM service occurs. The DCS1800 specifications are finalized.
1992 | The addition of the countries that signed the GSM Memorandum of Understanding takes place. Coverage spreads to larger cities and airports.
1993 | Coverage of main roads' GSM services starts outside Europe.
1994 | Data transmission capabilities launched. The number of networks rises to 69 in 43 countries by the end of 1994.
1995 | Phase 2 of the GSM specifications occurs. Coverage is extended to rural areas.
1996 | June: 133 network in 81 countries operational.
1997 | July: 200 network in 109 countries operational, around 44 million subscribers worldwide.
1999 | Wireless Application Protocol came into existence and 130 countries operational with 260 million subscribers
2000 | General Packet Radio Service(GPRS) came into existence.
2001 | As of May 2001, over 550 million people were subscribers to mobile telecommunications

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