The transition to digital cellular

Issues, such as how digital will co-exist with analog and the different strategies that can be adopted for introducing digital cellular, are examined. The driving forces of the upcoming technology and the impact it will have on the existing networks are studied. The alternatives available to convert cellular systems from analog to digital are evaluated. Introducing digital cellular on top of the current analog system presents many challenging problems, such as high subscriber terminal cost, rapidly diminishing analog capacity, and uncertain digital penetration. There are many solutions in various architectures which will address some of the problems. There are different paths for the transition to digital, with different costs, deployment speeds, and spectrum efficiencies. The selection of the transition path will depend on the strategy chosen by each individual service provider.<>