GSM

Although NMT had been introduced in Europe as recently
as 1981, the Europeans soon recognized the need for a pan-European digital
system. There were many reasons for this, but a major reason was the
fact that multiple incompatible analog systems were being deployed across
Europe. It was understood that a single Europe-wide digital system could
enable seamless roaming between countries as well as features and capabilities
not possible with analog systems. Consequently, in 1982, the Conference
on European Posts and Telecommunications (CEPT) embarked on
developing such a system. The organization established a group called (in
French) Group Spéciale Mobile (GSM). This group was assigned the necessary
technical work involved in developing this new digital standard. Much
work was done over several years before the newly created European
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) took over the effort in
1989. Under ETSI, the first set of technical specifications was finalized, and
the technology was given the same name as the group that had originally
begun the work on its development�"GSM.
The first GSM network was launched in 1991, with several more
launched in 1992. International roaming between the various networks
quickly followed. GSM was hugely successful and soon, most countries in
Europe had launched GSM service. Furthermore, GSM began to spread
outside Europe to countries as far away as Australia. It was clear that GSM
was going to be more than just a European system; it was going to be global.
Consequently, the letters GSM have taken on a new meaning—Global System
for Mobile communications.
Initially, GSM was specified to operate only in the 900-MHz band, and
most of the GSM networks in service use this band. There are, however,
other frequency bands used by GSM technology. The first implementation
of GSM at a different frequency happened in the United Kingdom in 1993.
That service was initially known as DCS1800 since it operates in the 1800-
MHz band. These days, however, it is known as GSM1800. After all, it really
is just GSM operating at 1800 MHz.
Subsequently, GSM was introduced to North America as one of the technologies
to be used for PCS—that is, at 1900 MHz. In fact, the very first
PCS network to be launched in North America used GSM technology.