What is GSM?
If you are in Europe or Asia and using a mobile phone, then most probably you are using GSM technology in your mobile phone.
If you are in Europe or Asia and using a mobile phone, then most probably you are using GSM technology in your mobile phone.
- GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communication. It is a digital cellular technology used for transmitting mobile voice and data services.
- The concept of GSM emerged from a cell-based mobile radio system at Bell Laboratories in the early 1970s.
- GSM is the name of a standardization group established in 1982 to create a common European mobile telephone standard.
- GSM is the most widely accepted standard in telecommunications and it is implemented globally.
- GSM is a circuit-switched system that divides each 200 kHz channel into eight 25 kHz timeslots. GSM operates on the mobile communication bands 900 MHz and 1800 MHz in most parts of the world. In the US, GSM operates in the bands 850 MHz and 1900 MHz.
- GSM owns a market share of more than 70 percent of the world's digital cellular subscribers.
- GSM makes use of narrowband Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technique for transmitting signals.
- GSM was developed using digital technology. It has an ability to carry 64 kbps to 120 Mbps of data rates.
- Presently GSM supports more than one billion mobile subscribers in more than 210 countries throughout the world.
- 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.
Why GSM?
Listed below are the features of GSM that account for its popularity and wide accepatance.
- 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
The following table shows some of the important events in the rollout of the GSM system.
