Introduction to wireless technology and markets

Abstract

The evolution of global wireless markets can be understood as paralleling and spurring technological and regulatory developments in co-evolutionary fashion. Wireless technology has deep roots in a number of different technologies, from the telephone to radar. The public monopoly nature of telephone service probably retarded the introduction of wireless technologies, whose early commercial precursors were introduced as early as 1974. The deregulation of telephone services allowed for the development of cell phones as an alternative. More recent technological advances have brought about a convergence of data and voice services, demanding again further regulatory and industry re-organisation.