GSM data, telematic and supplementary services

Whilst communications traffic carried on the GSM cellular network is predominantly voice, provision is made to support a number of data, telematic and supplementary data related services. Only those services which are seen by most GSM network operators to be the most important are discussed here. Since the early 1980s data services have been available on the UK TACS (Total Access Communication System) analogue cellular network in which the number of conventional data users (excluding facsimile etc.) is estimated to be 1% to 2% of the total number of mobile subscribers. Some bold estimates put the projected figure for the GSM network at 5% for the same type of services. It is likely that standardisation will encourage the use of data on GSM whereas in the UK TACS network there was no standardisation agreed for 'data' between the network operators despite efforts to do so. One GSM supplementary service, in particular, is the Short Message Service (SMS). This is currently attracting considerable interest from potential users. For certain applications, the short message service is providing an attractive alternative to the more conventional circuit switched GSM data services.