3G

International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT—2000)

     Better known as 3G or 3rd Generation, is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunications services fulfilling specifications by the International Telecommunication Union. Application services include wide-area wireless voice telephone, mobile Internet access, video calls and mobile TV, all in a mobile environment. Compared to the older 2G and 2.5G standards, a 3G system must allow simultaneous use of speech and data services, and provide peak data rates of at least 200 kbit/s according to the IMT-2000 specification. Recent 3G releases, often denoted 3.5G and 3.75G, also provide mobile broadband access of several Mbit/s to laptop computers and smartphones.

The following standards are typically branded 3G:

• the UMTS system, first offered in 2001, standardized by 3GPP, used primarily in Europe, Japan, China (however with a different radio interface) and other regions predominated by GSM 2G system infrastructure. The cell phones are typically UMTS and GSM hybrids. Several radio interfaces are offered, sharing the same infrastructure:
  • The original and most widespread radio interface is called W-CDMA.
  • The TD-SCDMA radio interface, was commercialised in 2009 and is only offered in China.
  • The latest UMTS release, HSPA+, can provide peak data rates up to 56 Mbit/s in the downlink in theory (28 Mbit/s in existing services) and 22 Mbit/s in the uplink.

• the CDMA2000 system, first offered in 2002, standardized by 3GPP2, used especially in North America and South Korea, sharing infrastructure with the IS-95 2G standard. The cell phones are typically CDMA2000 and IS-95 hybrids. The latest release EVDO Rev B offers peak rates of 14.7 Mbit/s downstreams.

India

     In 2008, India entered into the 3G arena with the launch of 3G enabled Mobile and Data services by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) in Bihar (Patna). BSNL is the first Mobile operator in India to launch 3G services. Later, MTNL launched 3G in Mumbai & Delhi. Government owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has already been provided with a 3G license and has been operating its services in 380 cities by the end of March 2010. Nation wide auction of 3G wireless spectrum in April 2010 was announced. The auction fetched huge sums of money for the Government of India, estimated to be around Rs 35,000/- Crore ($7.6 billion). The total revenue collected by the Government was nearly Rs 1,06,000 Crore ($23 billion).Private provider Tata Docomo has announced the services to be launched during Diwali Season in November 2010. Airtel and Vodafone expected to provide its 3G service from January 2011.