Next generation wireless - The path to high-speed mobile multimedia services

Next generation wireless technology will enable future mass markets for personalised mobile services. The paper discusses today's and future market developments in wireless markets. Based on open standards and a continuously expanding range of applications and services, mobile technology is penetrating new markets as well as opening up new customer groups. Deregulation in European countries and licensing of new spectrum will lead to new operators and an increased competition to the benefit of the end-users. Next generation systems will offer entirety new services including high speed data, broadband, mobile multimedia services and mobile e-commerce. To make that happen, a merger/overlap will take place between today's separated industries, like Telecommunications, Information Technologies, Broadcast, Content and Internet Industries, towards a mobile e-society. For the first time ail regions of the world are co-operating in the 3GPP programme to specify global standards overcoming today's barriers between the regions of the world, caused by incompatible standards in today's systems. The global success of all systems based on the GSM platform will lead to a 3rd generation UMTS technology as member of the world wide IMT 2000 family of systems of the ITU.