From the first experiments with radio communication by Guglielmo Marconi in the 1890s, the road to truly mobile radio communication has been quite long. To understand the complex 3G mobile-communication systems of today, it is also

important to understand where they came from and how cellular systems have evolved from an expensive technology for a few selected individuals to today’s global mobile-communication systems used by almost half of the world’s population.

Developing mobile technologies has also changed, from being a national or regional concern, to becoming a very complex task undertaken by global standardsdeveloping organizations such as the Third GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP)

and involving thousands of people.