1G Mobile Networks

1G technology refers to the first generation of wireless communication technology. 1G introduced in the 1970s based on analog telecommunications standard for voice communications. The mobile wireless communication was possible only by after introducing 1G technology. Basically it was a network that have capable of making only voice calls. After 2G technology introduced to the world 1G get its name as 1G. For a long time most of the people used this first wireless telecommunication technology. These were the first and foremost mobile phones to be utilized.

The first commercial 1G mobile network in the world was introduced by Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT) DoCoMo firm in Tokyo, Japan on 1st of December 1979. First mobile phones were still car phones but network changed as follows.

· It was a cellular network with 88 cell sites with a base stations or radio towers covering all areas of Tokyo,

· Supported for handover of the call between different cell sites,

· Without the need for human switchboard operator, there was an automated switching.

After that it spread across Japan widely within a span of 5 years. In 1981, after two years of launching 1G many Nordic countries like Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Europe and Russia got new standards. It was known as Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) and it were based on 1G technology.

As well as North America started to use Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) which launched on 13th October 1983 by Ameritech in Chicago as a commercial cellular network. Martin Cooper invented first hand-held mobile phone and manufactured by Motorola was happen in same time. Then Malaysia adopted the NMT 450 standard and introduced their first cellular network and ATUR 450 mobile phones introduced in 1987 by Jabatan Telekom (now called as Telekom Malaysia, privatized in 1987). After that early car phones in the Japan NTT network later evolved into “shoulder phones” in 1985 which looks like sling bag which can carry on the shoulder. On the other hand United Kingdom and many other countries started to use Total Access Communication Systems (TACS) which was introduced in 1985 by UK. Then JTACS was later introduced in 1988 by Japan. First mobile network in China (currently boasting the largest mobile subscriber market) was launched in 1987 by Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of China and they used TACS standard. After that in the next year they completed their nationwide network.

1G was an analog technology. It had a data rate up to 2.4 Kbps and bandwidth of 30 kHz. 1G had drawbacks due to many reasons. Such as,

· Poor voice quality

· Poor battery life

· Large size of phones

· No security

· Limited capacity

· Poor reliability

· Limited coverage

Phones had poor battery life and also poor voice quality. Because of the less frequency bandwidth, dropped calls was a most often experience. There was only one medium for communication, phone call to convey ones message to another one. Data transmission speed at the time was around 3 Kbps to 4 Kbps. It used to take huge of energy to transmit data to far distances due to the low-frequency bandwidth and analog form of data transmission. And also signals would get disturbed while reaching the message to relevant recipient. Bigger antennas needed to catch requisite data traversing in space because of that reason mobile phones were big and thick in size. And also mobile phones in 1G had lower battery life because of the data transmission used to take lots of energy.

1G technology was not a fully digital one. The transmission of data were done in analog form at 150 MHz and above frequency of radio waves. Because of this drawback it was led to insecurity of phone calls. They were not supported for encryption. On the other hand data transmission speed was too low and was only feasible for phone calls as they take low data to carry the intended signals due to less frequency bandwidth for 1G. The other main drawback was roaming not supported, it means that users can’t use other countries’ networks. Further when consider about limitations of 1G technology can be see, it had low capacity due to Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) technique does not maximize system capacity and also there was no mobile assisted handover and hence more burden on the Mobile Switching Center (MSC).

In 1G era, most phones were like,

· Heavy (most of initial models weighted around 3 KG — 4 KG)

· Not for personal use (For corporate and executive use)

· Expensive (Example: Motorola Dyna Tac priced at US $3,995)

· Hence a symbol of affluence and social status

So, it’s good to know about 1G technology, because we are going to find even 6G as 1G is the first step behind all these huge things.