In the wake of the development of the first, second generation (2G) network systems, developers started to work on 2G's more advanced relative, 3G. Inevitably, a number of different areas emerged as competing developers strived to establish their own products as the new standard. As opposed to previous second generation mobile networks, which were really just a vague aggregation of rival digital systems, the exact meaning of 3G is now standardised by the international IMT-2000 process. The IMT-2000 process laid down precisely a system of specifications that are to be adhered to by all producers of 3G products. While the primary aim of the IMT-2000 process was to obtain a single technological standard to which all 3G technology would adhere, competition within the industry trashed that aim and as a result several rival third generation technologies were created.
May 2001 saw the first testing of a third generation network which took place in Tokyo, Japan. NTT DoCoMo, the firm responsible for this trial, also launched the very first 3G network commercially on October 1, 2001, using the WCDMA protocols. The following year the first rival CDMA2000 protocol 3G networks were set up by the South Korean KTF and SK, and the American firm Monet. Again in 2002, another Japanese 3G network was launched by the company Vodafone KK. And one more year down the track, the first European 3G network was launched, by the new '3' brand owned by Hutchison, and all the other major networks followed suit soon after.
As the third generation of networks were being finalised, several 2G technology products were advanced under the the title of 2.5G, such as GPRS and CDMA2000 1x. These new 2G developments provided some of the features as offered by 3G phones, internet access and multimedia functions for example, but did not fulfill the data transfer or multimedia requirements of the 3G standard. Following these developments, a system called the EDGE was launched, and this was theoretically capable of the speeds demanded by the 3G standard, but could not reach these in anything other than laboratory conditions.
The 3G network licence costs were far from cheap and this forced many within the industry to doubt its viability in the market. However, by the beginning of 2008 there were over 300 million subscribers to 3G networks, generating a massive $120,000,000,000 in revenue throughout 2007. The South Koreans and Japanese no longer sell 2G phones and the 2G networks - now yesterday's news, are steadily being shut down to make way for 3G, which in turn will be replaced by the forthcoming 4G networks.
May 2001 saw the first testing of a third generation network which took place in Tokyo, Japan. NTT DoCoMo, the firm responsible for this trial, also launched the very first 3G network commercially on October 1, 2001, using the WCDMA protocols. The following year the first rival CDMA2000 protocol 3G networks were set up by the South Korean KTF and SK, and the American firm Monet. Again in 2002, another Japanese 3G network was launched by the company Vodafone KK. And one more year down the track, the first European 3G network was launched, by the new '3' brand owned by Hutchison, and all the other major networks followed suit soon after.
As the third generation of networks were being finalised, several 2G technology products were advanced under the the title of 2.5G, such as GPRS and CDMA2000 1x. These new 2G developments provided some of the features as offered by 3G phones, internet access and multimedia functions for example, but did not fulfill the data transfer or multimedia requirements of the 3G standard. Following these developments, a system called the EDGE was launched, and this was theoretically capable of the speeds demanded by the 3G standard, but could not reach these in anything other than laboratory conditions.
The 3G network licence costs were far from cheap and this forced many within the industry to doubt its viability in the market. However, by the beginning of 2008 there were over 300 million subscribers to 3G networks, generating a massive $120,000,000,000 in revenue throughout 2007. The South Koreans and Japanese no longer sell 2G phones and the 2G networks - now yesterday's news, are steadily being shut down to make way for 3G, which in turn will be replaced by the forthcoming 4G networks.
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