ROLE OF 3G IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MOBILE INTERNET

Third Generation (3G) mobile telecommunications technology has been pivotal in the development of mobile communications, it facilitated higher data transfer rates compared to its predecessor 2G, allowing for real time video streaming, rapid message transfer and mobile GPS technology. The International Telecommunication Union defined the third generation of mobile telephony International Mobile Telecommunications 2000 (IMT-2000) to facilitate growth, increase bandwidth and provide more diverse applications for mobile networks.

History of mobile telephony

The first generation of mobile telecommunications (1G) started in the early 80’s with commercial deployment of Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) by network providers. This network only supported transfer of analog voice over channels of 800-megahertz (MHz) frequency bands over radio channels. Through the 90’s the need for more advanced data transfer leg to emergence and deployment of 2G network standards which enabled clearer voice calls and introduced the Short

Message Service (SMS) and a 9.6 Kbit/s circuit-switched data service. Although the data rate was limited it was viable enough to enable a mobile internet connection for the first time. At this point in time voice was still the dominant method of communication on mobile devices compared to the internet due to its efficiency and speed therefore it established strong reliance by users. In the 90’s a need for more robust mobile communication lead to the creation of the 3rd Generation Partnership

Project (3GPP) which was meant to standardize global growth and adoption of 3G. Some of it’s technologies included General Packet Radio Service which offered Speeds of up to 114 Kbps, Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution which booster speeds up to 384 Kbps, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) offered downlink speeds up to 1.92 megabits per second (Mbps), High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) boosted the downlink to 14 Mbps and Long-Term Evolution(LTE) -- or Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) -- aimed for 100 Mbps.

Effects of 3G In Growth of Mobile Internet

1. Faster Data Transfer Speeds – 3G supported higher data transfer rates of up to 2Mbps compared to 2G allowing for rapid web browsing and rich content transfer like images and videos whereas 2G only supported voice, SMS and low internet speeds ranging from 9.6 – 14.4 Kbps which did not make it ideal for internet services hence people went back to mainly using it for voice communication and SMS.

2. Growth of multimedia Services – The increased bandwidth brought forward by 3G enabled multimedia services such as video calling, mobile TV, video streaming and rich web browsing. This led to the establishment of platforms such as YouTube, mobile video calling apps, and even social media sites which further developed the use and adoption of mobile internet.

3. Mobile Devices Adoption – 3G brought with it mobile devices which were better suited to fully utilize all it’s technologies such as the Apple iPhone and Android device which came fully featured with messaging services such as email and browsing which made the further increased adoption of mobile devices for everyday tasks and thus increasing the use of mobile internet.

4. Bridge in The Digital Gap – In many regions around the world 3G was the first widely adopted technology that was affordable and offered high speed internet access as well as bringing internet access to areas where fixed line infrastructure was limited. This led to the growth of the mobile internet as more people all over the world could access the internet.

5. Affordability – Due to the widespread adoption of the 3G standard providers all over the world emerged lowering the cost of accessing the internet through 3G, this made it more approachable to users as well as improving the development of 3G in itself and the services facilitated over it allowing more and more people to access the internet anywhere from their mobile Devices

6. Growth of mobile commerce – 3G provided rapid speeds enabling the growth of ecommerce on the mobile platform by facilitating online transactions, development and adoption of ecommerce platforms like Amazon and eBay on mobile devices which further increased the use of the internet on mobile devices.

7. Paved the way for 4G and upcoming mobile networks – The 3G standard paved the way for newer generations of mobile telephony namely 4G and lately 5G, which all operate on similar technology allowing seamless transition to faster speeds enabling for even real time HD video streaming, gaming on mobile devices with minimal latency and IoT devices this as a whole contributes to the large-scale use of mobile internet and its growth.

8. Growth of Mobile Cloud Services – 3G led to the introduction of mobile cloud services which allowed people to get more work done on mobile such as document editing, file storage etc. which needed fast and reliable mobile internet to fully work enhancing reliance on mobile internet hence the need for it’s growth and improvement.

9. Growth of Social Platforms -The increased speed led to a transfer of social platforms such as twitter and facebook to mobile devices with high optimisation for the mobile user which was previously impractical due to the slow speeds provided by 2G which bridged the gap between users globally allowing for instant communication between users.

Conclusion

3G technology was transformative in establishing mobile internet as a mainstream service. Its introduction marked the beginning of the modern mobile era, laying the groundwork for subsequent technologies and shaping how we interact with mobile devices today. The lessons learned from 3G deployment continue to influence current and future mobile telecommunications development.