Die Vision UMTS

The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System UMTS is the European vision of a 3^rd generation mobile telecommunications system. UMTS will carry on the world-wide success of the European 2^nd generation system, GSM, which now (in February 1998) has 66 million subscribers and 239 operators. The evolution towards UMTS will show both: On the one hand a new air interface will allow multiple users to communicate with several media simultaneously, i.e. transmitting and receiving voice, data, text, images, audio and video at a maximum data rate of 2 Mbit/s. On the other hand enhanced, intelligent networks will support the mobility of users with UMTS-, GSM- and cordless phones. UMTS will be a major contribution to the convergence of telecommunications, broadcasts and computers, setting a milestone on our way towards a global information society.