

These components perform different functions, such as routing calls and Short Message Service (SMS) and authenticating and storing caller account information via SIM cards.īecause many GSM network operators have roaming agreements with foreign operators, users can often continue to use their phones when they travel to other countries. The NSS has a variety of parts, including mobile switching center (MSC) and home location register (HLR). The NSS portion of the GSM network architecture, often called the core network, tracks the location of callers to enable the delivery of cellular services. The BSC communicates with and controls a group of base transceiver stations. The BTS contains the equipment that communicates with the mobile phones, largely the radio transmitter receivers and antennas, while the BSC is the intelligence behind it. It consists of two main components: the base transceiver station (BTS) and the base station controller (BSC). The BSS handles traffic between the cellphone and the NSS. The subscriber identity module ( SIM) card provides the network with identifying information about the mobile user. The mobile device connects to the network via hardware. The GSM network has four separate parts that work together to function as a whole: the mobile device itself, the base station subsystem (BSS), the network switching subsystem (NSS) and the operation and support subsystem (OSS). In 2017, Singapore retired its 2G GSM network. However, several telecommunications carriers have decommissioned their GSM networks, including Telstra in Australia. In 2010, GSM represented 80% of the global mobile market. That same year, the GSM standard frequency band was expanded from 900 MHz to 1,800 MHz. Mobile services based on GSM were first launched in Finland in 1991. In 1989, the responsibility of the GSM project was transferred from CEPT to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The European Union (EU) then passed laws to require GSM as a standard in Europe. In 1987, representatives from 13 European countries signed a contract to deploy a telecommunications standard. CEPT decided on several criteria that the new system must meet: international roaming support, high speech quality, support for hand-held devices, low service cost, support for new services and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) capability. To achieve that goal, in 1983, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) set up a committee to develop a European standard for digital telecommunications.

The shortcomings of these systems signaled the need for a more efficient cellular technology that could also be used internationally. However, these telecommunications systems were unable to scale with the adoption of more users. and Total Access Communication System (TACS) in the U.K., were built with analog technology. Predecessors to GSM, including Advanced Mobile Phone Service ( AMPS) in the U.S. GSM, together with other technologies, is part of the evolution of wireless mobile telecommunications that includes High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HSCSD), General Packet Radio Service ( GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service ( UMTS). It operates at either the 900 megahertz ( MHz) or 1,800 MHz frequency band. GSM digitizes and compresses data, then sends it down a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot. GSM uses a variation of time division multiple access ( TDMA) and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephony technologies: TDMA, GSM and code-division multiple access ( CDMA). GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) is a digital mobile network that is widely used by mobile phone users in Europe and other parts of the world. What is GSM (Global System for Mobile communication)?
