Created by - Orhan Ergun
The orbiting satellite transmits and receives its information to a location on Earth called the Network Operations Center (NOC). NOC is connected to the Internet so all communications made from the customer location (satellite dish) to the orbiting satellite will flow through the NOC before they reached the Internet and the return traffic from the Internet to the user will follow the same path. How does Satellite Internet work? Data over satellite travels at the speed of light and Light speed is 186,300 miles per second. The orbiting satellite is 22,300 miles above earth (This is true for the GEO-based satellite) The data must travel this distance 4 times: 1. Computer to satellite 2. Satellite to NOC/Internet 3. NOC/Internet to satellite 4. Satellite to computer Satellite Adds latency This adds a lot of time to the communication. This time is called "Latency or Delay" and it is almost 500 milliseconds. This may not be seen so much, but some applications like financial and real-time gaming don’t like latency. Who wants to pull a trigger, and wait for half a second for the gun to go off? But, latency is related to which orbit the satellite is positioned. Let’s have a look at different Satellite Orbits to understand the satellite latency and its effect on the communication Geostationary (GEO) Satellites Geostationary satellites are earth-orbiting about 22,300 miles (35,800 Kilometers) directly above the equator Picture - GEO-Based Satellite Distance They travel in the same direction as the rotation of the Earth. This gives the satellites the ability to stay in one stationary position relative to the Earth Communication satellites and weather satellites are often given geostationary orbits so that the satellite antennas that communicate with them do not have to move to track them, so they can be pointed permanently at the position in the sky where they stay. The latency in GEO Satellites is very high compared to MEO and LEO Satellites. The geostationary orbit is useful for communication applications, because ground-based antennas, which must be directed toward the satellite, can operate effectively without the need for expensive equipment to track the satellite’s motion. There are hundreds of GEO satellites in orbit today, delivering services ranging from weather and mapping data to distribution of digital video-on-demand, streaming, and satellite TV channels globally. The higher orbit of GEO based satellite means greater signal power loss during transmission when compared to a lower orbit Medium Earth Orbit Satellites MEO is the region of space around the Earth above low Earth orbit and below the geostationary orbit. Historically, MEO constellations have been used for GPS and navigation applications, but in the past five years, MEO satellites have been deployed to provide broadband connectivity to service providers, government agencies, and enterprises. Current applications include delivering 4G LTE and broadband to rural, remote, and underserved areas where laying fiber is either impossible or not cost-effective – such as a cruise or commercial ships, offshore drilling platforms, backhaul for cell towers, and military sites, among others In addition, Service Providers are using managed data services from these MEO satellites to quickly restore connectivity in regions where the service has been lost due to undersea cable cuts or where major storms have occurred MEO satellite constellations can cover the majority of Earth with about eight satellites. Because MEO satellites are not stationary, a constellation of satellites is required to provide continuous service. This means that antennas on the ground need to track the satellite across the sky, which requires ground infrastructure which is more complex compared to GEO-based satellites Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellites Unlike geostationary satellites, low and medium Earth orbit satellites do not stay in a fixed position in the sky. Consequently, ground-based antennas cannot be easily locked into communication with any one specific satellite. Low Earth orbit satellites, as their name implies, orbit much closer to earth. LEOs tend to be smaller in size compared to GEO satellites, but require more LEO satellites to orbit together at one time to be effective. Lower orbits tend to have lower latency for time-critical services because of the closer distance to earth. It’s important to reiterate that many LEO satellites must work together to offer sufficient coverage to a given location Although many LEOs are required, they require less power to operate because they are closer to earth Picture - Low Earth Orbit - LEO Satellite Choosing to go with more satellites in the LEO orbit on less power, or using fewer larger satellites in GEO, is the biggest decision to make here Due to the high number of satellites required in LEO constellations, LEO satellites systems are expected to be high initial manufacturing and launch costs and more expensive ground hardware compared to GEO
Published - Tue, 14 Jun 2022
Created by - Orhan Ergun
As an end user, I am always welcoming the “4G” Signal indicator on my mobile because basically for me this maps to a better Download Speed, good quality VoIP calls (skype, Hangout, Whatsapp, etc) , better Streaming, and HD Videos. This article is all about the “4G” indicator. I am discussing the Evolved Packet Core together with the EUTRAN, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network Technologies that are realizing the 4G Service offered to end users. With Data rates above 100 Mbps and latency of milliseconds that enables the best video streaming and online gaming experience; One may think of 4G networks as a replacement for 2G/3G Network which is valid in some cases. However, we see that the decision to “dismantle” 2G/3G is still in the operators roadmaps. Before we go through the LTE/EPC Network Setup, Let’s list three main definitions and abbreviations that are closely related to 4G. LTE, Long Term Evolution: LTE is basically the Framework for delivering high-speed Data rates for Mobile and Data Terminals. It started with 3GPP R8 and it is commercially introduced to Markets with term “4G” although “4G” requirements are covered by LTE-Advance (3GPP R10) EUTRAN, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network: E-UTRAN is basically the Radio Access Network Part of the LTE system. It is represented by the e-NodeB replacing the old 3G RAN Nodes (RNC & NodeB) EPC, Evolved Packet Core: Evolved from the 3G PS Core, EPC is the Core Network for the LTE Framework. It consists mainly of MME (Mobility Management Entity), SGW (Serving Gateway), & PGW (PDN Gateway) replacing the Old SGSN & GGSN Network Elements. The LTE/EPC Network is a Flat All-IP Network. All Interfaces are over IP and no SS7, SIGTRAN, or Legacy Interfaces exist. Below is the high level Architecture of the Basic LTE/EPC Network setup with the corresponding Interfaces. EUTRAN is highlighted in yellow while the EPC is highlighted in green.eNodeB: The only EUTRAN Network Element replacing the 3G Node B & RNC. It provides all Radio Management Functions. MME, Mobility Management Entity: The main Core Signalling Node replacing the SGSN in 2G/3G. SGW, Serving Gateway: Core Network Elements that terminates the User Plane Tunnel from eNB. It has functions mapped from both SGSN and GGSN in 2G/3G. PGW, PDN Gateway: The Gateway CN element in EPC replacing the GGSN in 2G/3G. HSS, Home Subscriber Server: It presents a permanent and central subscriber database. One observation here is that the LTE is a pure Data Network that doesn’t integrate with legacy CS Network. One may notice that eNB is not integrated to MSC/MGW the main nodes in the Circuit Switched (CS) Network that deliver voice service in 2G/3G. (Check the previous articles). The LTE network has brought some attractive Voice Solution such VoLTE (Voice over LTE) and VoWiFi (Voice over WiFi) which are very trending at this phase with many operators are keen to deliver voice services over LTE instead using the legacy voice Solutions over the CS Network. The Report from GSA, Global mobile Suppliers Association is bringing some interesting figure about the LTE adoption across the world. Q1 2016 results has showed that there are currently 1.292 billion LTE subscribers worldwide and that represents a 100% Yearly growth compared to last year which recorded 647 million Subscriber in Q1 2015! By Apr 2016, 55 operators have launched HD Voice using VoLTE and 126 operators are investing in Voice over LTE; that includes Demos and PoCs. Around 4XX Smartphone models are declared to support VoLTE. LTE is literally the long Term Evolution that gives a boost to Mobile broadband capabilities enabling the introduction of evolutionary services such as VoWiFI and development of subsequent technologies such as 5G, NB-IOT, Network Slicing, Cloud Computing, & others. I hope that was beneficial as an introduction to LTE/EPC Network. See you in the next article.
Published - Tue, 26 Nov 2019
Created by - Orhan Ergun
Most of the educational documents related to PS Core Network start with Call Flows. Attach Call Flow, PDP Context, Paging, etc. Basically that was my problem when I started working in PS Core because the Call Flows include a lot of messages which in turn include a lot of parameters and Information Elements so starting with the Call Flows without knowing at least the Identifiers included in these messages is not the best approach to understand PS Core principles. This is why this article will be all about the MBB terms that are commonly presented in all Call flows and in most of the MBB talks in general. Once one is comfortable with that, the Call flows will be easy to interpret. I am bringing some for clarification. International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)IMSI IMSI is a unique Identifier that is allocated to each MS in GSM/UMTS System and stored in SIM Card. (Conforming to ITU E.212 numbering standard) Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) In order to support the subscriber identity confidentiality service the VLRs and SGSNs may allocate Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identities (TMSI) to visiting mobile subscribers. Below is an MS providing P-TMSI Identity to NetworkInternational Mobile Station Equipment Identity IMEI identifies the Handset and not the user. It consists of the following elements – Type Allocation Code (TAC). Its length is 8 digits. – Serial Number (SNR) is an individual SN uniquely identifying each equipment within the TAC. – Spare digit: this digit shall be zero, when transmitted by the MS. Try typing *#06# to know your IMEI! Access Point Name (APN) In PS Core, an Access Point Name (APN) is a reference to GGSN where in general, it can be seen as a reference to the Service. According to the APN set on Handset and provisioned in Network, user will get a specific IP Address that is routable to a certain service.This is my phone where the provisioned APNs are set and configured. most probably if I choose MMS then i will get an IP address routable to MMS PDN. let’s see now from a high level perspective how the session is established (user gets internet access) in a 3G domain. UE sends Attach Request to Core Network including the MS Identity SGSN initiates the authentication procedure (AKA) for the UE in coordination with HLR. Once authenticated, SGSN updated Location in HLR and retrieves the user subscription profile. If there are no restrictions, SGSN accepts the Attach Request. At this stage, UE is capable to send request for Services in the Form of “Activate PDP Context Request” message. SGSN Conveys the message to GGSN via GTP message “Create PDP Context Request” enriched by parameters from Subscriber Subscription profile. GGSN validates the request and verifies that UE has no restriction with respect to Charging & Policies. Allocates an IP Address for the UE and then respond with GTP message Create PDP Context Accept. SGSN replies to UE with Activate PDP Context Response message carrying the IP address allocated via GGSN. (Prior to this message Radio Resources are being set via SGSN and RNC) At this stage, UE can browse the Internet making use of the routable IP Address allocated via GGSN where the bearer is divided into Radio Access Bearer (RAB) between UE & SGSN and GTP Tunnel between SGSN & GGSN. GGSN is performing the Tunneling for the DL traffic to UE and the de-tunneling for the UL Traffic to Internet. With the above Call flow, I close the 3G talk and starting from the next article, I will discuss the 4G Evolved Packet Core Setup. I hope that was beneficial.. see you in next article.
Published - Tue, 26 Nov 2019
Created by - Orhan Ergun
Mobile Broadband Trending Technologies - For me and for most of Mobile broadband professionals, we are used to meeting the Telco Vendors such as Ericsson, Huawei, Cisco, Nokia, etc. It was a mind-shift for me personally when I started to meet RedHat, Mirantis, & VMware as a part of the NFV talks and I was really surprised that a company like RedHat is a member of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) with more focus on the Mobile Broadband Evolution participating in Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) Work Group. To have a great understanding of SP Networks, you can check my new published Service Provider Networks Design and Architecture Perspective Book. It is obvious nowadays that the borders between different technology domains are fading in the sense that Networks are shifting into software-defined Networks with new abstraction layers realizing network convergence. With this post being the last one, I chose to talk a little bit about some trending and future Mobile Broadband technologies with the goal of having an overview of the Technology Roadmap. NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) NFV offers a way to design, deploy, & manage Network Services via decoupling the Network Functions from proprietary Hardware enabling them to run in software environment. The start was in Oct 2012 where a specification group under name “Network Functions Virtualization” with members from AT&T, BT, DT, China Mobile, NTT DOCOMO, & Other Tier-1 operators published the first NFV White paper at a conference in Darmstadt, Germany. ETSI was selected to be the home of NFV Industry Specification group http://www.etsi.org/technologies-clusters/technologies/nfv How about running Huawei GGSN on Ericsson Hardware? Juniper SRX software on Cisco UCS? Interesting, ha? IoT (Internet of Things) From the Mobile Broadband perspectives, There are many User Equipment (UE) Categories. One of them is the normal consumer (MBB user) and the rest of the big list are almost occupied with “things” that uses the Internet Service to contribute or provide a specific Service. An example is an electric meter that is able to report the usage directly to Electricity authority using the Internet service availed via an embedded SIM Card installed in the meter. For sure, there are a lot of many basic and sophisticated use cases. So, IoT platforms are evolving and developing rapidly and from the Mobile Broadband perspective, a new framework of Features (PSM, Low Complexity UEs, Extended Timers, etc) and technologies (NB-IoT, 5G, Mobile Edge Computing, Network Slicing, etc) are there and in the roadmap to support this evolution. MEC (Mobile Edge Computing) MEC is an Industry Specification Group in ETSI (started on Dec 2014) with the goal to provide an IT service environment and cloud-computing capabilities at the edge of the mobile network, within the RAN and in close proximity to mobile subscribers. MEC in a nutshell MEC is pushing the service into the Edge with the goal of improving user experience. MEC will be an open Platform exposing APIs to Network reusing the NFV technology & all techniques related to SDN and Orchestration apply. With the MEC, an operator can easily deploy a specific gateway (IoT Gateway) as close as possible from access to serve the critical services that can’t tolerate delay (1 millisecond!) such as smart Cars/Smart Traffic Lights. 5G As the name indicates, this is the 5th generation for Mobile Networks that is still under development and Standardization. With a goal of having the Commercial Launch by 2020 (Tokyo Olympics 2020) and a “Pilot” launch by 2018 (Russia World Cup 2018), the 5G is foreseen as a use case driven technology which will provide a service framework for three main streams Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) – Evolution in user Data Rates (Gigabit Experience) Massive MTC (Machine Type Communications) – Smart Cities – Smart Homes – IoT Ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications – Mission Critical Applications Smart Cars – Self Driving. The Target is to fulfill the below requirements Latency (E2E): 1 ms Throughput: 10 Gbps per UE Mobility of Speeds reaching 500 Km/h A lot of use cases and Sectors will be served by 5G such as Smart Grids, Smart Vehicles, Health Care, Industry & Automation, Logistics & Tracking. I hope that this article together with the previous four have succeeded to shed some light on the Mobile Broadband ecosystem and the corresponding technologies. I will be happy to respond to your inquiries and comments.
Published - Tue, 26 Nov 2019
Created by - Orhan Ergun
Mobile Broadband… You might have heard this term before, possibly in an ISP environment. The term has always represented a name of a department within a mobile operator or a vendor organization. It is always there in profile description for telecom professionals. It is everywhere actually when it comes to a certain ecosystem or framework that delivers Internet Service using Mobile Network. To have a great understanding of SP Networks, you can check my new published “Service Provider Networks Design and Architecture Perspective” Book.Let me bring the Wikipedia definition followed with a small note … Mobile broadband is the marketing term for wireless Internet access through a portable modem, mobile phone, USB wireless modem, tablet or other mobile devices. Definition is true but the note here is that you can’t rely solely on google to understand the MBB related technologies (EDGE, UMTS, 4G/LTE, etc.) because what is in google is mainly the marketing articles and the vendor specific publications which is fine but as a lesson learned, one need always to understand the technology concept decoupled from vendors influence. The good thing is that the whole knowledge, principles, & Service descriptions for Mobile Broadband is there in the standards. Mainly the 3GPP which is freely accessible. So I’d clearly say that the “debate” that it is hard to get the knowledge of the MBB is “debatable“! One just need to know how to get the information? Which 3GPP standard Specifications? Which 3GPP Release? Throughout this article, I am going to talk about the Mobile broadband evolution and the related standardization specifications which will enable the audience to see the big picture of the MBB and the plan is that by the end of the Five articles series, readers will be on the Mobile Broadband Track. The Mobile Systems in general are classified into generations (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G) and for every generation, there are a set of standards specifications that describe the related service descriptions, interfaces, protocols, Call flows, etc. 1G That was the first generation of Analogue Mobile systems firstly launched by NTT Docomo in 1979 and then that was followed by commercial deployments in the Nordics and the US in the early 1980’s. It was more like Direct Dialling rather a network architecture controlled by the Operator. FDMA, Frequency Division Multiple Access technique was used by the Analogue Technology to serve Voice Calls. No Data Service were offered by 1G. 2G GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) was a standard developed by ETSI, European Telecommunications Standards Institute to realize the 2G digital Cellular Network. With the first Commercial deployment in Finland (Radiolinja) in July 1991. GSM had the target to deliver a Digital Circuit Switching network that is capable to deliver voice services. One can conclude that the 2G GSM technology is a pure circuit switching network delivering voice service with no data service offered. This understanding will help us to understand the evolution of GPRS and Edge Technologies. From the standardization perspective, the early GSM releases were called GSM Phase 1 & GSM Phase 2. The logical architecture of 2G Network that was introduced by this release is shown below The Yellow Highlighted Network Elements are representing the RAN (Radio Access Network) Domain and can be called BSS (Base Station Subsystem) in some other contexts while the green highlighted network elements are representing the CN (Core Network) BTS: Base Transceiver Station BSC: Base Station Controller MSC: Mobile Switching Center GMSC: Gateway MSC ISC: International Switching Center HLR: Home Location Register VLR: Visited Location Register EIR: Equipment Identity Register The diagram is simple just to give an overview of the 2G architecture. The function for every Network Element will be illustrated in next articles. The Catch here is that the early 2G didn’t provide a framework for Data Service and the network is solely serving CS Services. All Core Interfaces were based on Legacy SS7 interfaces. The term Circuit Switched was very dominant in a way there there were no IP Interfaces, No Data Services, and no Supporting handsets by that time. Post releases are named GSM Phase 2+ (R96, R97, & R98). Starting from GSM Phase 2+ (Release 96), There were some attempts to allow the network to deliver Data Services in addition to Voice. The R96 specs are referring to 14.4 Kb/s User data based on High Speed Circuit Switched Data so still the enhancements were provided on Circuit Switched Network. Release 97 brought some good news for Data Services where it introduced GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) on both Radio Part and Network Part and thus, the Network architecture has shifted to the below architecture to provide the PS Core Network (Packet Switched Core Network) R97 Architecture - R97 Updated SGSN: Serving GPRS Support Node GGSN: Gateway GPRS Support Node The two main network elements of PS Core Network (SGSN & GGSN) were introduced in 3GPP Release 97. The Protocol used between SGSN & GGSN over the Gn/Gp Interface is GTP, GPRS Tunneling Protocol (Over UDP/IP) and that was the first IP interface introduced by that time together with the Gi Interface which is a transparent IP interface to Internet. GPRS typically reached speeds of 40Kbps in the downlink and 14Kbps in the uplink. At this stage, technically and theoretically we are still at 2G but because of the introduction of the Data service and for an efficient marketing of the new service; vendors and Operators introduced a new Marketing term which is the 2.5 G. So, here is a catch; The marketing term 2.5 G refers to R97 introduction of GPRS over the GSM network. Evolution continued on R98, and EDGE technology was introduced at the radio side achieving 384 Kbps data rate (almost 3G) but that was not accompanied with any change in the Core Network. Again, the evolution was labeled 2.75G by industry operators so that’s another marketing term referring to EDGE technology. You might have seen the letter “E” for Edge on your mobile phone while being covered by 2G coverage. 3G The UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) was introduced as part of 3GPP Release 99 together with EDGE enhancements. New Interfaces has been added and new Network Elements as well such as Node-B & RNC that resembles the BTS & BSC in 2G. The logical architecture of 3G Network introduced by R99 release is shown belowTheoretical rates refer to 2 Mbps for both Uplink and Downlink however, actual rates by that time were 384 Kbps. The Network has become more ready to welcome the “All-IP” Interfaces that is introduced in the following release (Release 4). The concept of All IP Network has been introduced in 3GPP Release 4 where the SS7 legacy interfaces have been standardized for a Sigtran deployment (SS7 over IP). 3GPP Release 4 is a popular release for CS Core Network where the Split of Control Plane & User Plane was achieved by introducing the Media Gateway handling the UP and dedicate the MSC for handling the CP. There was no change in the PS Core Network architecture of R99. In R5, The major enhancement was on the air interface introducing HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) reaching theoretical rates of 14.4 Mbps and also this release has introduced the IMS (IP Multimedia System). R6 added the HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) evolution that achieves 5.76 Mbps on the Uplink. Note : In Mobile Broadband, Downlink is the direction from Network to MS and Uplink is the direction from MS to Network. R7 Introduced the evolved HSPA (HSPA+) with typical speeds of 42 Mbps. The 3GPP Release 7 is a well know release in the PS Core domain because it introduced a very well established and deployed Architectural feature which is the Direct Tunnel giving the option that user plane is established directly between RNC and GGSN bypassing SGSN.Same like Edge 2.75G, The HSPA technology has been marketed by some marketing terms such as 3.5G & 3.75G. You should see the “3G”, “H”, or “H+” signs on your mobile according to the technology deployed by your carrier. LTE (A step towards 4G) 3GPP Release 8 is one of the main Evolutionary stages when the 3GPP community decided to use IP (Internet Protocol) as the key protocol to transport all services. A new Core Network Architecture was introduced as an evolution for the Packet switched Core in GPRS/UMTS under name EPC (Evolved Packet Core) with a direction to not have a circuit-switched domain in the sense that the new EPC would deliver both Data and Voice services. In old release, the RAN needed to integrate to both CS & PS network where in LTE the eNodeB is only integrated to EPC. The logical architecture of LTE/EPC is shown below eNB: Evolved Node-B MME: Mobility Management Entity SGW: Serving Gateway PGW: PDN Gateway HSS: Home Subscriber Server OCS: Online Charging System PCRF: Policy and Charging Rules Function That was the innovative LTE, Long Term Evolution that most of the operators of the world started to adopt with serious momentum towards 5G. The diagram below shown the difference between the main Packet Core reference architecture (R6, R7, & R8) Scandinavian TeliaSonera deployed the first commercial LTE Network in June 2009. Theoretical Data rates were 300 Mbps but never reached more than 100 – 150 Mbps at this pilot stage (2009 – 2010). Here comes a well known confusion.. LTE is 4G or it is not? Does the evolutionary 3GGP R8 cover the 4G requirements? The answer is always the same … search for marketing! LTE was introduced and marketed by the term 4G although in the reality, it is not. From the standards perspective the 4G requirements are covered by LTE Advanced which is standardized in 3GPP R10 but however introducing the new ecosystem under name “3G” would have been misinterpreted. These 4G requirements are defined by ITU, International Telecommunications Union. Please have a look on the below link for more insights about the 4G (LTE-A) requirements. http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_tr/136900_136999/136913/08.00.01_60/ The confusion is still on going with LTE-Advanced being marketed as 4.5 G while it is 4G as per the standards evolution. 3GPP Release 8 provide a mean to have voice services over CS Network via CS Fallback as an alternative for Voice over LTE. That’s justified because the Voice over LTE solution was not mature enough by the time of R8 being released and operators were not ready to migrate all voice services from CS network to LTE/EPC Network. Moving beyond R8, there is no big change in the Core Architecture. 3GPP R9 continued the enhancement of LTE radio side with some enhancement on the CSFB, & the Femto Cell. 3GPP R10 introduced the standardization of LTE-Advanced and is thought to be the standard 4G deployment. 3GPP R11 continued the enhancement of the radio Physical Layer, enhancements on the MTC, Machine Type Communications, Introduced the SaMOG enabling the integration between Trusted Non 3GPP Access (WiFi) to the EPC. 3GPP R12 and that’s the current “Frozen” release has made enhancements to the physical radio layer, Small Cells, & MIMO and Introduced the Device-to-Device proximity service. 3GPP R13 & R14 are still in “Open” state and some topics related to 5G are already discussed while the expected date for 3GPP 5G standardization release is June 2018. There are a lot of details and bits & bytes that I’d like to discuss but I believe that this is sufficient for a first article in a 5 articles row. I hope that it gave an overview on the Mobile Broadband ecosystem and the corresponding standardization releases. I am going to build on that and start publishing a weekly article from the below List. Article (2) – The Core Network Architecture (2G & 3G) Article (3) – Mobile Broadband Essential Terms & Concepts Article (4) – Getting the Service in 3G (under the hood) Article (5) – Introduction to LTE Thanks and waiting for your insights in the comment box below.
Published - Thu, 14 Nov 2019
Created by - Orhan Ergun
2G is still the most common deployed mobile access technology. It is hard to believe but as per my discussions with probably more than twenty Mobile Operators, 2G , especially GSM is the most common mobile access technology. Almost all those twenty Mobile operators deployed 3G and LTE and some of them deployed LTE Advanced as well, their common feedback ; as the developing and undeveloped continents have huge human population and they have legacy infrastructure, they have 2G mobile networks, thus worldwide, 2G is most common mobile network architecture as of 2017. In fact, below research supports this claim.In the above picture, HSPA (High speed packet access) is the enhanced version of 3G and LTE is considered as 4G technology. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) is also an enhanced 3G technology. Though analog 1G is not used by anyone and 2G networks are slowly removed and lose the market share, just for your info, it is still the most common mobile technology worldwide.
Published - Tue, 12 Nov 2019