GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications

More than 3 billion people worldwide use the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) family of technologies, as of 1Q 2008. GSM is the most widely used wireless technology in the world, available in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide, according to the GSM Association.

GSM's market share has grown exponentially over the past several years. It took 12 years for GSM to achieve 1 billion customers (February 2004), but only 2.5 years to pass 2 billion (June 2006). Approximately 1,000 people worldwide sign up for GSM service every minute. Over the past several years, GSM has been the fastest-growing wireless technology in North America and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The oldest member of the GSM family of technologies is GSM itself, a digital, "PCS,"" second-generation (2G) technology that provides voice and circuit-switched data services. There are several reasons why GSM is so popular among operators and their customers:

• Clear voice quality, which helps make GSM a viable alternative to wireline telephony for consumers and businesses.

• International roaming, with service available in more than 220 countries, as of 1Q 2008, the most of any wireless technology by a wide margin. As a result, users enjoy the convenience of being reachable with their GSM device and phone number when traveling abroad, as well as the ability to access messaging and other advanced services that they use in their home market. Partnerships within the GSM community help to keep users' roaming charges affordable and allow for any roaming charges to be automatically billed to their accounts back in their home market.
  Roaming is particularly important for operators for two reasons. First, it drives a significant amount of revenue. Second, roaming support helps operators attract enterprise customers.

• Spectral flexibility, with network infrastructure and user devices available for the 450, 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands. That is the widest variety of any wireless technology.

• Tight security, including inherent protection from eavesdropping and hacking. This helps make GSM voice and data an attractive alternative to analog cellular and Wi-Fi in the eyes of users, particularly enterprises.

• Data support, including SMS and Web browsing.

• Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, which allow customers to buy a new or additional phone, or a GSM PC Card modem, and instantly transfer their settings, preferences and contacts to the other device.

• Product selection. GSM's 88% worldwide market share makes it an attractive choice for manufacturers of handsets and for application developers. As a result, GSM customers enjoy the largest selection of handsets, PC card modems and other devices, as well as innovative voice and data services. GSM's market share also translates into large volumes of network infrastructure and user devices, which drive down costs. For operators, those savings mean that with GSM, they can price their devices and services more competitively than with any other wireless technology. GSM's market share also attracts vendors and application developers, whose innovative content, services and devices help operators attract and retain customers.

GSM has a straightforward, cost-effective migration path to third generation (3G) through GPRS, EDGE and UMTS/HSPA, as well as beyond 3G via the HSPA Evolution (HSPA+), Long Term Evolution (LTE) and System Architecture Evolution (SAE) initiatives. Each step in the GSM-based migration path leverages the network infrastructure deployed for the previous steps and is 100% backward compatible. For example, a UMTS phone can provide voice and data service when connected to a GSM network. The GSM family of technologies also provides a viable, flexible 3G-migration path for CDMA and TDMA operators.

Additional Information

Questions and Answers

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