The Telecommunications Handbook: Engineering Guidelines for Fixed, Mobile and Satellite Systems

25 Deployment and Transition of Telecommunication Systems

Michał Maternia

25.1 Introduction

“June 17, 1946 – A driver in St. Louis, Mo., pulled out a handset from under his car's dashboard, placed a phone call and made history. It was the first mobile telephone call.” [1] Since this event the wireless telecommunication systems has made a long way. This chapter tries to capture this progress starting from the brief description of the first generation of mobile network deployments through the deployment of GSM, WCDMA, LTE and ending with the outlook on what the future network may look like. The chapter tries to describe the process of network transition and give a short insight into the factors that contributed to this transformation: spectrum aspects and end-user terminals development. It also highlights trends and challenges in modern cellular solutions.

25.2 Why to Deploy Wireless Systems

Over the years wireless cellular solutions were always compared against wireline technologies. First generations of wireless cellular telecommunication products (cf. Figure 25.1) were confronted with fixed telephony products; later when mobiles started to offer broadband connections they were set against wireline Internet access solutions. Over many years those two groups of products were regarded as complementary. Wireless solutions allow mobility handling in combination with cheap and easy access. On the other hand data transfer speed realized via copper is still way above the possibilities ...