Overview

With the simultaneous gate-opening effects of technological innovation and industry deregulation, the demand for communications and available solutions is exploding. This demand is being fueled by the needs of people and businesses. The most visible evidence of the boom is within Internet traffic and e-commerce or m-commerce. However, it is less appreciated that an unprecedented demand exists from worldwide telephone subscribers. It took a century to get 700 million phone lines installed. Another 700 million will be deployed in the next 15 to 20 years and that could prove to be a conservative estimate. Although the majority of the new deployments will be wireless phones 700 million of them over the next 10 years demand for wireline communications is also exploding, driven in part by the need to access the Internet.

This explosion in demand is reflective of the dependence that people have on rapid, reliable communications to keep up with the fast pace of business. The success of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), the ubiquitous presence it has garnered, the emerging Internet, and the overall growth of data traffic in general all point to a significant business opportunity for GSM operators. The number of subscribers to the Internet worldwide is growing exponentially, as seen in Figure 24-1, and the growth has been dramatic. The following statistics from the middle of 2001 add some credibility to the overall concept of a data-centric community that is also mobile:

• Number of Internet users 400...