3G Third generation of mobile phone standards and technology.
4G Next generation of mobile phone standards and technology.
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is a form of DSL, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper lines than a conventional voice band modem can provide.
ADSL2+ Extends the capability of basic ADSL. The data rates can be as high as 24 Mbit/s.
Blog A website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.
DSL Digital Subscriber Line is a family of technologies that provide digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network.
EDGE Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology that allows increased data transmission rates and improved data transmission reliability.
Femtocell Originally known as an Access Point Base Station is a small cellular base station, typically designed for use in residential or small business environments.
GPRS General Packet Radio Service is a mobile data service available to users of GSM and mobile phones.
GPS Global Positioning System.
GSM Global System for Mobile communications is the most common standard for mobile phones in the world.
HDTV High-definition television is a digital television broadcasting system with greater resolution than traditional television systems.
HSDPA High-Speed Downlink Packet Access is a 3G mobile telephony communications protocol in the HSPA family, which allows networks based on UMTS to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. Also called turbo 3G.
HSPA High-Speed Packet Access is a collection of mobile telephony protocols that extend and improve the performance of existing UMTS protocols.
ICT Information and communications technology.
IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem is an architectural framework for delivering internet protocol multimedia services.
IP Internet Protocol is a data-oriented protocol used for communicating data across a packet-switched internet work. IP provides the service of communicable unique global addressing amongst computers.
IPTV Internet Protocol Television is a system where a digital television service is delivered by using Internet Protocol over a network infrastructure, which may include delivery by a broadband connection. A general definition of IPTV is television content that, instead of being delivered through traditional broadcast and cable formats, is received by the viewer through the technologies used for computer networks.
Java Refers to a number of computer software products and specifications from Sun Microsystems that together provide a system for developing application software and deploying it in a cross-platform environment. Java is used in a wide variety of computing platforms spanning from embedded devices and mobile phones on the low end to enterprise servers and super computers on the high end. Java is fairly common in mobile phones, web servers and enterprise applications, and somewhat less common on desktop computers though users may sometimes come across Java applets when browsing the World Wide Web.
LAN Local Area Network is a computer network covering a small geographic area, like a home, office, or group of buildings e.g. a school.
LTE Long Term Evolution (also called 4G) is the name given to a project within the Third Generation Partnership Project to improve the UMTS mobile phone standard to cope with future requirements. Goals include improving efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum opportunities, and better integration with other open standards. The LTE project is not a standard, but it will result in the new evolved release 8 of the UMTS standard, including mostly or wholly extensions and modifications of the UMTS system.
Mbps Megabit per second is a unit of data transfer rate equal to 1,000,000 bits per second.
Mobile 2.0 Refers to a perceived next generation of mobile internet services.
Mobile Broadband Describe various types of wireless high-speed internet access through a portable modem, telephone or other device.
MNP Mobile Number Portability enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another.
MVNO Mobile Virtual Network Operator is a company that provides mobile phone service but does not have its own licensed frequency allocation of radio spectrum.
Netbook A type of laptop designed for wireless communication and access to the internet. The term is a combination of the words internet and notebook.
NFC Near Field Communication is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 centimeter distance.
P2P Peer-to-peer computer network uses diverse connectivity between participants in a network and the cumulative bandwidth of network participants rather than conventional centralized resources where a relatively low number of servers provide the core value to a service or application.
PDA Personal Digital Assistant is a handheld computer, also known as pocket computer or palmtop computer.
PSTN All standard analogue lines, whether or not they are overlaid or augmented by other technologies (such as xDSL). Includes circuit-switched cable telephony lines, but excludes direct access VoIP.
RSS A family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works - such as blog entries, news headlines, audio and video – in a standardized format.
SIM Subscriber Identity Module is part of a removable smart card ICC (Integrated Circuit Card), also known as a SIM Card, for mobile cellular telephony devices such as mobile phones and computers.
Smartphone A mobile phone offering advanced capabilities beyond a typical mobile phone, often with PC functionality. There is no industry standard definition of a smart phone.
SOHO Small Office Home Office, a market segment.
Time-shift TV The recording and storage of a TV program to be viewed at a time more convenient to the user.
Triple Play A marketing term for the provisioning of the two broadband services, high-speed internet access and television, and one narrowband service, telephone over a single broadband connection.
UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card is the smart card used in mobile terminals in GSM and UMTS networks. The UICC ensures the integrity and security of all kinds of personal data, and it typically holds a few hundred kilobytes.
UMA Unlicensed Mobile Access is the commercial name of the 3GPP Generic Access Network or GNA standard. GAN is a telecommunication system that extends mobile voice, data and IP multimedia applications over IP access networks.
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System is a 3G mobile phone technology.
VDSL2 Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line 2 is the newest and most advanced standard of DSL broadband wireline communications. Designed to support the wide deployment of triple play services such as voice, video, data, HDTV and interactive gaming.
VoD Video-on-Demand systems allow users to select and watch to video content on demand.
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol.
WAP Wireless Application Protocol is an open international standard for applications that use wireless communication. Its principal application is to enable access to the internet from a mobile phone or PDA.
Web 2.0 Refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users.
WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access.
WLAN Wireless LAN is a wireless local area network, which is the linking of two or more computers without using wires.
Definitions used in graph Mobile market revenue sources (Chapter Market and Customers, Customer Trends)
Data networking The use of shared applications (such as applications for customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning or mobile workforce management), as well as access to corporate intranets; data networking is exclusive to the business segment.
Infotainment Information-based media content or programming that also includes entertainment content in an effort to enhance popularity with audiences and consumers.
M-advertising Mobile advertisement is a form of advertising via mobile phones or other mobile devices.
M-commerce Mobile ticketing, mobile shopping, mobile banking, mobile trading and mobile advertising; m-commerce does not include revenue derived from digital content delivered over operators' or third-party mobile portals (such as games and ringtones).
Other P2P messaging Person-to-person communications other than SMS and email, mainly MMS (picture messages and video messages) and MIM (mobile instant messaging), but excluding any messages used to deliver third-party content.
Video telephony Real-time audiovisual person-to-person communications.