UMTS experimental system in Italy-first evaluation of multimedia services in a 3/sup rd/ generation mobile system

CSELT (Telecom Italia group research centre), TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile) and Ericsson have set up an experimental testbed for the evaluation of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System). The aim of the trial, carried out at the CSELT premises in Turin, is to study the characteristics of the system, as far as the radio and network aspects are concerned, with reference to some UMTS services. In particular, several trials have been focused on the multimedia applications that the system enables by means of its packet switched service (IP over ATM connections) and circuit switched connections (IP over point-to-point protocol connections). New multimedia services, that can not be delivered with today's second generation mobile radio systems, have been evaluated thanks to the high bit rate available on the radio interface (up to 472.6 kbps with the experimental equipment).