Mobile Network Evolution

LTE is a Fourth Generation (4G) mobile network

technology. Mobile networks have evolved through a
series of innovations to meet the ever-growing demand for
wireless services, beginning with the analog cellular
networks introduced almost 30 years ago.
First Generation Cellular Networks:-
All of the First Generation (1G) mobile systems provided
voice services based on analog radio transmission
techniques. These first generation technologies used
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) which had
inherent limitations in the use of radio channels, and used
circuit-switched technologies in the network core.
Second Generation Cellular Networks:-
Second Generation (2G) mobile systems are characterized
by digitization and compression of speech. This allowed
many more mobile users to be accommodated in the radio
spectrum through either time (GSM) or code (IS-95 CDMA)
multiplexing.
Third Generation Cellular Networks:-
Third Generation (3G) cellular networks introduced highspeed
data and multimedia connectivity to users. A
distinct difference between 2G and 3G technologies was
the appearance of a packet data core network, while the
access network was shared by circuit and packet domains.

Fourth generation cellular networks:-

The rapid increase in use of the internet to provide all kinds of services since the 1990s started
at the same time as 2G and 3G mobile systems came into widespread use. The natural next step was
that those internet-based services also moved to the mobile devices, creating what is today know as
mobile broadband. Being able to support the same Internet Protocol (IP)-based services in a mobile
device that people use at home with a fixed broadband connection is a major challenge and a prime
driver for the evolution of LTE.
The first data services over GSM were circuit switched, with packet-based GPRS coming in as a
later addition. This also influenced the first development of 3G, which was based on circuit switched
data, with packet-switched services as an add-on. It was not until the 3G evolution into HSPA and later
LTE/LTE-Advanced that packet-switched services and IP were made the primary design target. The
old circuit-switched services remain, but will on LTE be provided over IP, with Voice-over IP (VoIP)
as an example.
The Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is often called 4G, but many
also claim that LTE release 10, also referred to as LTE-Advanced, is the true 4G evolution step, with
the first release of LTE (release 8) then being labeled as 3.9G

Lte advanced:-

Advanced label primarily being added to highlight the relation between LTE release 10
(LTE-Advanced). This does not make LTE-Advanced a different system than LTE and it is not in any
way the final evolution step to be taken for LTE.