C. Text Study

GSM

Text B

B. Text Study

I. Look at the title of the text. Make your predictions about the contents of it. Read the text and answer the questions.

a. Why was the group called the Groupe Special Mobile formed?

b. When was the commercial service started?

During the early 1980s, analog cellular telephone systems were experiencing rapid growth in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom, but also in France and Germany. Each country developed its own system, which was incompatible with everyone else’s in equipment and operation. This was an undesirable situation, because not only was the mobile equipment limited to operation within national boundaries, which in a unified Europe were increasingly unimportant, but there was a very limited market for each type of equipment, so economies of scale, and the subsequent savings, could not be realized.

The Europeans realized this early on, and in 1982 the Conference of European Posts and Telegraphs (CEPT) formed a study group called the Groupe Special Mobile (GSM) to study and develop a pan-European public land mobile system. The proposed system had to meet certain criteria:

· good subjective speech quality

· low terminal and service cost

· support for international roaming

· ability to support handheld terminals

· support for range of new services and facilities

· spectral efficiency, and

· ISDN compatibility.

In 1989, GSM responsibility was transferred to the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI), and phase I of the GSM specifications were published in 1990. Commercial service was started in mid-1991, and by 1993 there were 36 GSM networks in 22 countries, with 25 additional countries having already selected or considering GSM. This is not only a European standard – South Africa, Australia, and many Middle and Far East countries have chosen GSM. By the beginning of 1994, there were 1.3 million subscribers worldwide. The acronym GSM now (aptly) stands for Global System for Mobile telecommunications.

The developers of GSM chose an unproven (at the time) digital system, as opposed to the then-standard analog cellular systems like AMPS in the United States and TACS in the United Kingdom. They had faith that advancements in compression algorithms and digital signal processors would allow the fulfillment of the original criteria and the continual improvement of the system in terms of quality and cost. The 8000 pages of the GSM recommendations try to allow flexibility and competitive innovation among suppliers, but provide enough guidelines to guarantee the proper interlocking between the components of the system. This is done in part by providing descriptions of the interfaces and functions of each of the functional entities defined in the system.

II. Read the text and define whether the following statements are true or false.

1. During the early 1980s, analog cellular telephone systems were experiencing slow growth in Europe.

2. Each country developed its own system.

3. The market for each type of equipment was very limited.

4. In 1982 a study group called the European Telecommunication Standards Institute was formed.

5. Commercial service was started in 1990.

6. Australia hasn’t chosen GSM.

7. A digital system chosen by the developers of GSM was unproven.

III. Expand the sentences.

1. During the early 1980s, analog cellular telephone systems developed rapidly in Europe.

2. Each country developed its own system.

3. The proposed system had to meet certain criteria.

4. In 1989, GSM responsibility was transferred to the European Telecommunication Standards Institute.

5. GSM is not only a European standard.

IV. Find the words – carriers of the primary and the secondary information in paragraph 4.

V. Define the functions of commas in paragraph 1.

V. Find out the means of connection of simple, compound and complex sentences.

VII. Arrange the sentences in the logical order according to the text.

1. South Africa, Australia and many Middle and Far East countries have chosen GSM.

2. The situation was undesirable.

3. The acronym GSM now stands for Global System for Mobile telecommunications.

4. The developers of GSM chose an unproven (at that time) digital system, as opposed to the then-standard analog cellular systems in the USA and in the UK.

5. The Europeans realized this early.

6. Each country developed its own system.

7. There was a very limited market for each type of equipment.

VIII. Give the main points of the text in 4-5 sentences.

I. Translate the text into Russian.

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