3G (or 3-G) is short for third-generation mobile telephone technology. The services associated with 3G provide the ability to transfer both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data (such as downloading information, exchanging email, and instant messaging).

3G Standards

3G technologies are an answer to the International Telecommunications Union‘s IMT-2000 specification. Originally, 3G was supposed to be a single, unified, worldwide standard, but in practice, the 3G world has been split into three camps.

UMTS (W-CDMA)

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone System), based on W-CDMA technology, is the solution generally preferred by countries that used GSM, centered in Europe. UMTS is managed by the 3GPP organization also responsible for GSM, GPRS and EDGE.

FOMA, launched by Japan‘s NTT DoCoMo in 2001, is generally regarded as the world‘s first commercial 3G service. However, while based on W-CDMA, it is not generally compatible with UMTS (although there are steps currently under way to remedy the situation).

CDMA2000

The other significant 3G standard is CDMA2000, which is an outgrowth of the earlier 2G CDMA standard IS-95. CDMA2000‘s primary proponents are outside the GSM zone in the Americas, Japan and Korea. CDMA2000 is managed by 3GPP2, which is separate and independent from UMTS‘s 3GPP. The various types of transmission technology used in CDMA2000 include 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO and 1xEV-DV.

TD-SCDMA

A less well known standard is TD-SCDMA which is being developed in the People‘s Republic of China by the companies Datang and Siemens. They are predicting an operational system for 2005.

List of countries that have deployed 3G

Countries that have commercial 3G networks include:

• Argentina (CDMA2000 1x)
• Australia (W-CDMA) (CDMA2000 1x)
• Austria (W-CDMA)
• Azerbaijan (CDMA2000 1x)
• Belarus (CDMA2000 1x)
• Belgium (W-CDMA)
• Bermuda (CDMA2000 1x)
• Brazil (CDMA2000 1x)
• Canada (CDMA2000 1x)
• Chile (CDMA2000 1x)
• China (CDMA2000 1x)
• Colombia (CDMA2000 1x)
• Cyprus (W-CDMA)
• Denmark (W-CDMA)
• Dominican Republic (CDMA2000 1x)
• Ecuador (CDMA2000 1x)
• Finland (W-CDMA)
• Georgia (CDMA2000 1x)
• Germany (W-CDMA)
• Greece (W-CDMA)
• Guatemala (CDMA2000 1x)
• Hong Kong (W-CDMA)
• Hungary (W-CDMA)
• India (CDMA2000 1x)
• Indonesia (CDMA2000 1x)
• Ireland (W-CDMA)
• Israel (W-CDMA)
• Italy (W-CDMA)
• Jamaica (CDMA2000 1x)
• Japan (W-CDMA, CDMA2000 1x)
• Kazakhstan (CDMA2000 1x)
• Kyrgyzstan (CDMA2000 1x)
• Malaysia (Deployed by Digi, Maxis and Celcom)
• Mexico (CDMA2000 1x)
• Moldova (CDMA2000 1x)
• Netherlands (W-CDMA)
• New Zealand (CDMA2000 1x) (W-CDMA in testing)
• Nicaragua (CDMA2000 1x)
• Nigeria (CDMA2000 1x)
• Norway (W-CDMA)
• Pakistan (CDMA2000 1x)
• Panama (CDMA2000 1x)
• Peru (CDMA2000 1x)
• Poland (CDMA2000 1x)
• Portugal (W-CDMA)
• Romania (W-CDMA offered by Connex, CDMA2000 1x offered by Zapp Mobile)
• Russia (CDMA2000 1x)
• Singapore (W-CDMA)
• Slovenia (W-CDMA)
• South Korea (CDMA2000 1x)
• South Africa (W-CDMA in testing)
• Spain (W-CDMA)
• Sri Lanka (W-CDMA by Dialog, CDMA2000 1x by Suntel)
• Sweden (W-CDMA)
• Taiwan (CDMA2000 1x)
• Tajikistan (W-CDMA)
• Thailand (CDMA2000 1x)
• United Arab Emirates (W-CDMA)
• United Kingdom (W-CDMA)
• United States (CDMA2000 1x) (W-CDMA in testing)
• Uzbekistan (CDMA2000 1x)
• Venezuela (CDMA2000 1x)
• Vietnam (CDMA2000 1x)

References

• CDMA Development Group - CDMA2000 Operator list (http://www./technology/product_pavilion/cdma2000_operators.asp)
• UMTS Forum - deployment list (as at January 2004) (http://www./servlet/dycon/ztumts/umts/Live/en/umts/Resources_Deployment_index)
• 3GToday.com - CDMA2000 and WCDMA operator list with map, printable list (http://www./wps/portal/operators/)

Related topics

• 2G
• 2.5G
• 3.5G
• 4G
• Evolution to 3G
• List of 3G phones
• 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)
• IP Multimedia Subsystem

External links

• Novatics Conduit3G (http://www./)
• 3G "newsroom" (http://www./)
• 3GToday.com (http://www./)