Digital radio technologies: pacemaker towards global personal and mobile communication

GSM is a story of success with still unbroken growth. In some countries penetration rates of about 20% are already reality and there is still no end in sight. On the other hand, there are dramatic changes going on in the telecommunication industry and only those who are prepared for these upcoming new risks and chances are going to succeed in a highly competitive environment. The operators face a lot of different challenges, like the necessity for differentiation against competitors, provision of service variety and quality. They permanently have to deal with price and cost competition. In order to succeed in that market the operators demand new products from the suppliers leading to new strategies. The authors discuss the development of GSM from the market point of view.