SYSTEM TRAINING

Introduction to GSM
Training Document

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Introduction to GSM

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Contents

Contents
1

Module objectives ................................................................................5

2
2.1
2.2
2.2.1
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6

Introduction ..........................................................................................6
Mobile communications: Basic concepts ................................................6
Channel organisation in GSM/GPRS ....................................................11
Physical channel and TDMA frame.......................................................12
The Public Land Mobile Network ..........................................................13
GSM Specifications ..............................................................................14
GSM background and requirements .....................................................15
Advantages of GSM .............................................................................16

3
3.1

Evolution of GSM ...............................................................................18

The next step: UMTS............................................................................21

Review questions ...............................................................................23

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Introduction to GSM

Preface

Already in the early days, GSM was superior to analogue mobile networks.
When the standardisation work for GSM began in 1982, CEPT (Confrence
Europenne des Postes et Tlcommunications), could use experiences from
analogue networks such as NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone) and TACS (Total
Access Communication System) to create a better digital network.
One main reason for the great success of GSM is that it was a European-wide
project already from the very beginning. Furthermore, the digital mobile system
enabled the supply of more sophisticated services, such as SMS (Short Message
Service), and bearer services for data transmission.
Thanks to the global popularity of GSM, we may now use our mobile stations in
more than 130 countries, a fact that has made both business and leisure
travellers' lives much more convenient.
Still today, standardisation continues to specify new features for GSM
networks. This ambitious work creates opportunities for the operators to
differentiate themselves in a competitive environment. Today, we are more and
more focusing on faster wireless transmission and the introduction of packet
switched data.
The 3G (Third Generation) network technologies are also already specified and
in many parts of the world operational. The 3G version in Europe, is named
UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System). Its air interface will be
based on WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) transmission.
3G networks provide substantially higher capacities than 2G.
This technically oriented material will help you to better understand the window
of opportunities today and in the near future. Your active participation will be
an essential ingredient for a successful and fulfilling training.

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Module objectives

Module objectives
After completing this module, the participant should be able to:

Name the key terms in mobile communications

List the main improvements from 1G to 2G mobile communications

systems

Identify five events in the GSM evolution and connect each with the
correct year

without using any references.

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Introduction to GSM

Introduction

2.1

Mobile communications: Basic concepts

From ancient to modern times, mankind has been looking for means of long
distance communications. For centuries, letters proofed to be the most reliable
way to transmit information. Fire, flags, horns, etc. were used to transmit
information faster.
Technical improvements in the 19th century simplified long distance
communications: Telegraphy, and later on telephony. Both techniques were
wireline.
In 1873, J. C. Maxwell laid the foundation of the electro-magnetic theory by
summarising empirical results in four equations, which are still valid today. It
would however be several decades before Marconi made economic use of this
theory by developing devices for wireless transmission of Morse signals (about
1895). Already 6 years later, the first transatlantic wireless transmission of
Morse signals took place. Voice was transmitted the first time in 1906 (R.
Fesseden), and one of the first radio broadcast transmission 1909 in New York.

Simplex

on
ewa
y

Figure 1.

Duplex

two-way

Transmission

The economically most successful wireless application in the first half of the
20th century was radio broadcast. There is one transmitter, the so-called radio
station. Information, such as news, music, etc. is transmitted from the radio
station to the receiver equipment, the radio device. This type of one-way
transmission is called simplex transmission. The transmission takes place only
in one direction, from the transmitter to the receiver. When we take a human

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Introduction

conversation, a technical solution is required, where the information flow can

take place in two directions. This type of transmission is called duplex
transmission. Walky-talky was already available the early 30ies. This system
already allowed a transmission of user data in two directions, but there was a
limitation: The users were not allowed to transmit at the same time. In other
words, you could only receive or transmit user information. This type of
transmission is therefore often called semi-duplex transmission. For telephony
services, a technical solutions is required, where subscribers have the
impression, that they can speak (transmit) and hear (receive) simultaneously.
This type of transmission solution is regarded as full duplex transmission.
The first commercial wireless car phone telephony service started in the late
1940 in St. Louise, Missouri (USA). It was a car phone service, because at that
time, the mobile phone equipment was bulky and heavy. Actually, in the startup, it filled the whole back of the car. But it was a real full duplex transmission
solution. In the 50ies, several vehicle radio systems were also installed in
Europe. These systems are nowadays called single cell systems. The user data
transmission takes place between the mobile phone and the base station (BS).
A base station transmits and receives user data. While a mobile phone is only
responsible for its users data transmission and reception, a base station is
capable to handle the calls of several subscribers simultaneously. The
transmission of user data from the base station to the mobile phone is called
downlink (DL), the transmission from the mobile phone to the base station
uplink (UL) direction. The area, where the wireless transmission between
mobile phones and the base station can take place, is the base stations supply
area, called cell.
Basestation
Downlink (DL)

Uplink
(UL)

cell = supply area

Figure 2.

Single Cell System

Single cell systems are quite limited. The more and more distant the subscriber
is from the base station, the lower the quality of the radio link. If the subscriber
is leaving the supply area of the cell, no communication is possible any more. In

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Introduction to GSM

other words, the mobile communication service was only available within the
cell. In order to overcome this limitation, cellular systems were introduced. A
cellular mobile communication system consists of several cells, which can
overlap. By doing so, a whole geographical area can be supported with the
mobile communication service.

Orange

Coverage

Carpentras

Avignon

Nimes

Arles

Salon-de-Provence

Figure 3.

Cavaillon

Aix-en-Provence

Cellular System

But what happens, when a subscriber moves during a call from one cell to
another cell? It would be very annoying, if the call is dropped. If the subscriber
is leaving a cell, and in parallel is entering a new cell, then the system makes
new radio resources available in the neighbouring cell, and then the call is
handed over from on cell to the next one. By doing so, service continuation is
guaranteed, even when the subscriber is moving. The process is called
handover (HO).

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Introduction

Mobile phone is active,

e.g. a call takes place

Service continuation
without interruption

Figure 4.

Handover

A handover takes place during a call, i.e. when the mobile phone is in active
(dedicated) mode. A mobile phone can also be in idle mode. In this case, the
mobile phone is switched on, but no resources are allocated to it to allow user
data transmission. In this mode, the mobile phone is still listening to
information, broadcasted by the base station. Why?
Imagine, there is a mobile terminated call. The mobile phone is then paged in
the cell. This means the phone receives information that there is a mobile
terminated call. A cellular system may consist of hundreds of cells. If the
mobile network does not know, in which cell the mobile phone is located, it
must be paged in all of them. To reduce load on networks, paging in is done in
small parts of a mobile an operators network. Mobile network operators group
cells in administrative units called location areas (LA). A mobile phone is
paged in only one location area.
But how does the cellular system know, in which location area the mobile
phone is located? And how does the mobile phone know? In every cell, system
information is continuously transmitted. The system information includes the
location area information. In the idle mode, the mobile phone is listening to this
system information. If the subscriber moves hereby from one cell to the next
cell, and the new cell belongs to the same location area, the mobile stays idle. If
the new cell belongs to a new location area, then the mobile phone has to
become active. It starts a communication with the network, informing it about it
new location. This is stored in databases within the mobile network, and if there
is a mobile terminated call, the network knows where to page the subscriber.
The process, where the mobile phone informs the network about its new
location is called Location Update Procedure (LUP).

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Introduction to GSM

Location Area 3
Location Area 1

no Location Update

Location Area 2

Location Area
=
registration
area of one
subscriber

Location Update

Figure 5.

Location Update and Paging

With the introduction of cellular mobile communication systems, we refer to

generations. First generation mobile communication systems are

TACS (Total Access Communications System)

NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephony)

AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service)

C450

etc.

All of them were commercially launched in the 80s of the last century.
The 1st generation mobile communication systems often offered national wide
coverage. But there were limitations:
Most of them did not support roaming. Roaming is the ability to use an other
operators network infrastructure. International roaming is the ability to go even
to another country and use the local operators infrastructure.

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Introduction

Example:
GSM subscriber
from Spain

Roaming
=
ability to use
different
operators
infrastructure

can use GSM network

in Australia, given
roaming agreement
between home operator
and visited operator

Figure 6.

Roaming

Most 1st generation mobile communication systems only support speech

transmission, but not data transmission, such as fax. Supplementary services,
well known from ISDN, were not available, such as number indication and call
forwarding, when busy. The transmission takes place unprotected via the radio
interface as a consequence, eavesdropping is possible. Finally, mobile
communication started to become a mass market. And the radio interface is the
main bottleneck in terms of capacity. Improved solutions were urgently
required. This led to the inauguration of the 2nd generation mobile
communication systems, one of which is GSM.

2.2

Channel organisation in GSM/GPRS

In GSM 900, 25 MHz spectrum has been frequency divided into 124 bands,
each having a bandwidth of 200 kHz. On each of the 200 kHz bands a carrier
can be transmitted at the centre frequency of the band. The carriers are thus
frequency division multiplexed.

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Introduction to GSM

UPLINK
890 MHz
GSM1800: 1710 MHz

GSM900:

DOWNLINK

915 MHz
1785 MHz

935 MHz
1805 MHz

...

123

123

200 kHz
124
374

Channel 1
1

960 MHz
1880 MHz

...

guard band

Duplex frequency 45 MHz / 95 MHz

Figure 7.

FDD and FDMA organisation in GSM

Each carrier is further time divided into timeslots (TSL) and each timeslot is
referred to as a physical channel. It is possible to share a physical channel
amongst many processes or users. This sharing is referred to as logical
channels.

2.2.1

Physical channel and TDMA frame

tim
e

4
3
2

Physcial channel,

e.g. allocated to one

subscriber with FR voice &
no frequency hopping

0
7
6
5
4
3
2

TDMA frame
= 8 timeslots

1
0
7
6
5
4
3
2

TDMA frame

1
0

200 kHz

Figure 8.

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frequency

TDMA frame and physical channel

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Introduction

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), is a method of sharing a resource (in

this case a radio frequency) between multiple users, by allocating a specific
time (known as the time slot) for each user. This is in contrast to the analogue
mobile systems where one radio frequency is used by a single user for the
duration of the conversation. In Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
systems each user either receives or transmits bursts of information only in the
allocated time slot. These time slots are allocated for speech only when a user
has set up the call. Some timeslots are, however, used to provide signalling and
location updates etc. between calls. The main benefit of the time based system
is higher capacity than in earlier systems.
In GSM, a TDMA frame is defined as a grouping of TSLs which are numbered
0 to 7 as shown above. It has duration of 4.615ms (8 x 577s).
TDMA frames are transmitted one after another. Every TDMA frame is
allocated a frame number.
Um is the acronym for the GSM radio interface. It is an open interface, i.e. it is
very accurately specified and thus vendor independent. A subscriber can use
mobile phones from any manufacturer without bothering about the operators
GSM infrastructure and supplier, as long as the network elements are compliant
with the GSM specifications.

2.3

The Public Land Mobile Network

A mobile operators network is called Public Land Mobile Network. It is
subdivided into three parts:

Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

Network Switching Subsystem (NSS)

Network Management Subsystem (NMS)

The Network Switching Subsystem is responsible for switching, mobility

management, and traffic element, i.e. that here network elements such as
exchanges and data bases can be found. The exchanges are responsible for
switching, while the data bases are used to keep track of the current location of
the subscriber and his mobile phone. Mobile subscribers can be anywhere
worldwide. This creates a challenge when there is a call since even in a mobile
network a subscribers location must be known before a call can be set up.
There are millions of cells, were the subscriber and his mobile phone can be
located. The NSS databases serve to locate mobile subscribers when needed.
The Base Station Subsystem is responsible for the link between a mobile phone
and a network exchange. The radio interface must contain many functions to
enable mobile calls. For example user data must be protected by ciphering of
user data in the base station and the mobile phone. The transmission must be
reliable which invokes error protection methods. If a mobile subscriber wants to

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Introduction to GSM

make a call, physical resources must be allocated to the user in a controlled

manner. The tasks of the BSS can be summarised under the key terms Radio
Resource Management (RRM) and Radio Link Management (RLM).
The Network Management System supports the operator in remote network
supervision. Fault, configuration, and performance management are central
tasks performed within the NMS.
Very important open interfaces are the Um interface and the A-interface. Open
interfaces guarantee interworking of network elements from different vendors.
An operator may select the NSS from one vendor, the BSS from a second
vendor and the subscriber may use any vendors mobile phone.

MS

Network Switching
Subsystem
Switching
Mobility Management
Connection Management
Charging

Air

BSS

NSS
O&M

Base Station Subsystem

Radio Resource Management
Radio Link Management

Figure 9.

2.4

NMS
Network Management System
Fault Management
Configuration Management
Performance Management

The Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN)

GSM Specifications
One reason for the major success of GSM is, that it is very accurately
standardised. The standard is open, i.e. it is available to everyone. The European
Standards Telecommunications Institute (ETSI) is responsible for the GSM
standards. The GSM technical specifications are grouped in this way:
01General Description of a GSM PLMN
02 Services
03 Network Functions
04 MS - BSS Interface
05 Radio Path
06 Speech Processing Functions
07 Terminal Adaptation Functions

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Introduction

08 BSS - MSC Interface

09 Network Inter Working
[10 Service Inter Working]
11 Type Approval Procedures
12 Operation and Maintenance

2.5

GSM background and requirements

At the beginning of the 1980s a problem was that the European countries were
using many different, incompatible mobile phone systems. These systems are
referred to as 1G (first generation) systems. In Europe, the most common 1G
system was NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone) and TACS (Total Access
Communications System). In the United States, as well as in other American
countries, AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) was, and still is, a widely
established system.
With the passage of time, the need for telecommunication services was
remarkably increased. Due to this, CEPT (Confrence Europenne des Postes et
Tlcommunications) founded a group to specify a common mobile system for
Western Europe. This group was named Groupe Spciale Mobile and the
system name GSM arose.
This abbreviation has since been interpreted in other ways, but the most
common expression nowadays is Global System for Mobile communications.
GSM is a 2G (second generation) system

Figure 10.

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GSM Global System for Mobile communications

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Introduction to GSM

At the beginning of the 1990s, the lack of a common mobile system was seen to
be a general, worldwide problem. For this reason the GSM system has now
spread also to the Eastern European countries, Africa, Asia and Australia. The
USA, South America in general, and Japan has made a decision to adopt other
types of mobile systems, which are not compatible with GSM. However, in the
USA the Personal Communication System (PCS) has been adopted, which uses
GSM technology with a few variations.
During the time the GSM system was being specified, national
telecommunication markets were deregulated. Requirements for openness and
competition were built into the specifications as follows:

There should be several network operators in each country. This would

lead to competition in tariffs and service provisioning and it would ensure
the rapid expansion of the GSM system. The prices of the equipment
would fall and the users would find the cost of calls reducing.

The GSM system must be an open system, meaning that it should contain
well-defined interfaces between different system parts. This enables the
equipment from several manufacturers to coexist and hence improves the
cost efficiency of the system from the operator's point of view.

GSM networks must be built without causing any major changes to the
already existing Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN).

In addition to the commercial demands, some other objectives were defined:

2.6

The system must be Pan European.

The system must maintain a good speech quality.

The system must use radio frequencies as efficiently as possible.

The system must have high/adequate capacity.

The system must be ISDN compatible (Integrated Services Digital

Network) and compatible with other data communication specifications.

The system must maintain good security both for subscriber and
transmitted information.

Advantages of GSM
Due to the requirements set for the GSM system, many advantages will be
achieved. These advantages can be summarised as follows:

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GSM uses radio frequencies efficiently, and due to the digital radio path,
the system tolerates more intercell disturbances.

The average speech quality is better than in analogue systems.

Data transmission is supported throughout the GSM system.

Speech is encrypted and subscriber information security is guaranteed.

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With ISDN compatibility, new services are offered.

International roaming is technically possible within all countries using the

GSM system.

The large market increases competition and lowers the prices both for
investments and usage.

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Introduction to GSM

Evolution of GSM
One key factor for the success of GSM was that the standardisation work was
not completed after 1989. It was initially decided that GSM would evolve over
time. With improvements in computing and radio access technology, GSM will
offer continuous improvement and more services. In 1995 the Phase 2
recommendations were frozen. The GSM 900 and GSM 1800 specifications
were merged and additional supplementary services were defined, the short
message service was improved and improvements in radio access and SIM
cards were introduced.
After the Phase 2 recommendations, GSM continues to evolve at full speed.
Many new features are being introduced to GSM and the number of
improvements is so large that together they are called "Phase 2+" features.
These Phase 2+ features are frozen at regular intervals under what are known as
"Releases".
The following list highlights some important years in the short history of GSM:

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1982

CEPT initiated a new cellular system. The European Commission

(EC) issued a directive that required member states to reserve
frequencies in the 900 MHz band for GSM to allow for roaming.

1986

CEPT tested eight experimental systems in Paris.

1987

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Allocation of the frequencies:

- 890 - 915 MHz uplink (from mobile to base station)
- 935 - 960 MHz downlink (from base station to mobile)

1988

European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI) was created.

ETSI includes members from administrations, industry, and user
groups.

1989

Final recommendations and specifications for GSM Phase 1.

1990

Validation systems implemented and the first GSM World Congress

in Rome with 650 participants.

1991

First official call in the world with GSM on 1st July.

1992

World's first GSM network launched in Finland. The first roaming

agreement was made. By December there were 13 networks operating
in 7 areas. Australian operators were the first non-European
signatories of the GSM MoU. New frequency allocation for GSM
1800 (DCS 1800).
- 1710 - 1785 MHz (uplink)
- 1805 - 1880 MHz (downlink)

1993

GSM demonstrated for the first time in Africa at Telkom '93 in Cape
Town. Roaming agreements between several operators. By December
1993 there were 32 GSM networks operating in 18 areas.

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Evolution of GSM

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1994

The first GSM network in Africa was launched in South Africa. The
GSM Phase 2 data/fax bearer services were launched. By December
1994 there were 69 GSM networks in operation.

1995

There were 117 GSM networks operating around the world. Fax, data,
and SMS roaming was implemented. The GSM phase 2
standardisation was completed, including adaptation for GSM 1900
(PCS 1900). The first GSM 1900 network was implemented in the
USA. Telecom '95 was held in Geneva where Nokia demonstrated
33.6 Kbits/s multimedia data via GSM.

1996

By December there were 120 networks operating. The 8K SIM was

launched in addition to prepaid GSM SIM cards.

1998

HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data) trials in Singapore. Over

2 million GSM 1900 users in the USA and a total of 120 million GSM
900/1800/1900 users worldwide.

1999

The first mobile data call using GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)
in a live network was made. The first HSCSD (High Speed Circuit
Switched Data) networks are launched. In December, the 271 million
subscribers sent over 3 billion short messages (G-mails) worldwide. In
January 2000 there were 359 GSM networks operating in 132
different countries.
GSM 850 support: UL: 824 849 MHz and DL: 869 894 MHz (for
North America).
Location Based Services (LBS) services standardised. LBS can be
combined with GPS (Global Positioning System), so that a subscriber
can determine his geographical location extremely accurately.
Operator Specific Access (OSA) specified: with it, open application
programming interfaces between an operators network infrastructure
and external VASP are given. It allows service provision from
external VASP without knowledge of the operators internal network
infrastructure.
The 3G mobile communications system UMTS was specified in
December. It is based on the GSM standards to allow a smooth
evolution from the 2nd generation to the 3rd generation. This ought to
guarantee an investment protection for GSM operators.

2000

The first GPRS network is launched.

Second release of UMTS delayed to year 2001

2001

The Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) was standardised.

GSM 700 supported; UL: 747 762 MHz and DL: 777 792 MHz
UMTS and GSM standardised at 3GPP; UMTS/GSM Rel. 4
standardised

2002

UMTS/GSM Rel. 5 standardised (IMS) was standardised for

GSM/GPRS and UMTS.
More than 40 MMS services have been launched this year in countries
such as Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, and Hong Kong. MMS
(Multimedia Messaging Service) enables personalised multimedia

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Introduction to GSM

messages, which can include images, texts, photos, etc. It is forecasted

by the analyst Foster, that in the year 2007, that MMS will account for
more than 30% of the mobile messaging revues. MMS is especially
flexible, when transmitted via the GPRS infrastructure.
At the end of the year 2002, more that 120 operators are commercially
offering GPRS, and more than 40 operators are testing GPRS or
building up a GPRS infrastructure.
Smartphones are under development for GSM/GPRS and UMTS to
allow a wide range of mobile services, such as mobile Internet, mobile
gambling, enhanced LDAs, video messaging, agnostic services, etc.
2003

First commercial starts of UMTS network operators in Europe.

2004

More than one billion people, almost one in six of the worlds
population, are now using GSM mobile phones. More than 200
countries and territories has adopted GSM and it has become a truly
global standard for mobile communications. As the choice of 80 per
cent of all new mobile customers, GSM has driven wireless take-up to
the extent that mobile phones now outnumber fixed telephone lines
globally

1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Dec 97 Dec 98 Dec 99 Dec 00 Dec 01 Dec 02 Dec 03 Dec 04 Dec 05

Figure 11.

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GSM customers worldwide and customer forecast (Dec 2002)

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Evolution of GSM

30

Billion

25
20
15
10
5
0
Jan 00

Jan 00

Jul 01

Jan 02

Jul 02

Ja
n0
0
Ap
r0
0
Ju
l0
0
Ok
t0
0
Ja
n0
1
Ap
r0
1
Ju
l0
1
Ok
t0
1
Ja
n0
2
Ap
r0
2
Ju
l0
2

Jul 00

Source: GSM Association

Figure 12.

SMS growth during the last three years

In some European countries, SMS has reached saturation, e.g. it only slightly
growing on a very high level. It is assumed, that MMS will substitute SMS over
the next years.

3.1

The next step: UMTS

The third generation solution UMTS, is expected to complete the globalisation
process of the mobile communication. UMTS will mostly be based on GSM
technical solutions due to two reasons. Firstly, the GSM technology dominates
the market, and secondly, great investments made to GSM should be utilised as
much as possible. Based on this, the specification bodies created a vision about
how mobile telecommunication will develop within the next decade. Through
this vision, some requirements for 3G were short-listed as follows:

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The system to be developed must be fully specified (like GSM). The

specifications generated should be valid worldwide.

The system must bring clear added value when comparing to the GSM in
all aspects. However, in the beginning phase(s) the 3G system must be
backward compatible at least with GSM and ISDN.

Multimedia and all of its components must be supported throughout the

system.

The radio access of the 3G must be generic. The services for the endusers must be independent of the access: radio access and the network
infrastructure must not limit the services to be generated. That is, the

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Introduction to GSM

technology platform is one issue and the services using the platform
another issue.
The 3G system is expected to run a very high data rate that will allow us to have
multimedia traffic through the wireless network. Enhanced packet switching
and routing techniques are to be deployed to support video traffic and other
real-time traffic in the 3G wireless network. The 3G system will use the
Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (B-ISDN) to provide data
services between the existing data networks and the wireless network.
The Global 3G Partnership Project (3GPP) incorporating many organisations
(ITU-T, ETSI, ARIB and ANSI) is developing standards for the 3G systems.
These documents can be viewed at www.3gpp.org.

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TC Finland
Issue Dec 2002

Review questions

Review questions
In the following questions, please select one alternative that you think is the
best answer for the particular question. There may not be a perfect answer,
select the one you think is the most correct.
1.

Name advantages of cellular systems to single cell systems.

2.

Explain the difference between handover and location update procedure.

3.

Which of the following is a requirement for the GSM specifications?

4.

TC Finland
Issue Dec 2002

a.

The system must be compatible with existing mobile standards.

b.

The system must be standardised globally.

c.

The system must be built without causing any major changes in the
existing Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN).

d.

All of the above.

Which two statements in the following are generally seen as advantages

of GSM over analogue networks?
a.

Data transmission is supported in the whole GSM network.

b.

It is only possible to use an analogue mobile telephone in the own

network.

c.

GSM mobile stations can be used in other digital mobile networks,

for instance in NMT and TACS networks.

d.

GSM is a more secure system than analogue systems with respect

to subscriber information and transmission.

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Introduction to GSM

5.

24 (24)

Match the year in the left-hand column with the corresponding significant
GSM event in the middle column.

Year

Event

1982

Allocation of GSM frequencies

2000

Experimental test in Paris

1995

Frequency allocation for GSM 1800

1989

First official GSM call in the world

1991

Initiation of a new system

1987

ETSI begins the specification work for 3G/UMTS

1992

Final recommendations Phase 1

1999

Phase 2 recommendations frozen

1986

Total GSM subscribers exceeds 300 million

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Correct year

TC Finland
Issue Dec 2002