Standardization in a wireless environment

The mobile communications industry was built upon a fundamental technological stability in the radio transmission link: analog FM. For nearly forty years this stability supported a comfortable environment in which uniform standards were feasible. Single standards supported the manufacturer's goal of lowering production costs. Consumers benefitted as competition forced these lowered costs to be passed through to the public. This comfortable equilibrium was shattered in the 1980's with the introduction of digital radio into the commercial marketplace. Digital radio will end, forever, the era of a single standard and a complacent marketplace. This paper presents the authors' opinion of the role of standardization in a wireless environment.<>