INTRODUCTION TO

MOBILE
COMMUNICATIONS –
PRO SERIES
A simplified view of mobile communications for
professionals who are new to the industry – Version 1.0

By A Ghayas @ Commsbrief Limited

June 2021
 INTRODUCTION TO MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS – PRO SERIES Copyright © 2021 by Commsbrief Limited. All Rights Reserved.

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 ▪ What is mobile communications?
▪ Is there a difference between mobile and cellular networks?
▪ What exactly is a cell in mobile communications?
▪ Is my phone called a smartphone or cell phone, or mobile phone?

TELCO BUSINESS – Slides 8-15

▪ Who are the key entities in the telco ecosystem?
▪ A visual representation of the key players
▪ Who is a mobile network operator?
▪ Who is a mobile network vendor?
▪ Challenges for mobile operators and vendors

List of ▪
▪
What kind of customers mobile operators have?
What about the other players?

TECHNOLOGY CONCEPTS- Slides 16-22

contents ▪
▪
▪
▪
Generations of mobile networks
Mobile network technologies
What is a frequency spectrum?
What is 4G?
▪ What is 5G?
▪ Inter-related technology concepts

BASIC NETWORK OVERVIEW – Slides 23-27

▪ Main parts of a mobile network
▪ Radio network
▪ Core network
▪ Transport network
Abbreviations

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 What is mobile communications?

▪ Mobile telecommunications, also known as mobile communications or cellular communications, is a wireless communications
service that uses an extensive network of inter-connected coverage zones to create network coverage.
▪ Wireless communication can be mobile or fixed. Mobile communication is a wireless technology that allows end-users to
move freely from one location to another without losing network connection. The network connection is enabled by cellular
sites located throughout geographical areas like towns and cities.
▪ Mobile communication allows end-users to connect to the mobile network wirelessly without any visible physical medium.
The medium that keeps them connected is the air interface that employs radio frequency waves (RF) for signal transmission
and reception.
▪ Mobile communication empowers end-users to communicate freely without worrying about their mobility. The voice calls or
internet sessions on their phones continue without interruption even when they move from one part of the network to
another. That is because the mobile network has an inbuilt capability to hand over the call to those parts of the network that
can provide the best overall connection to the user.
▪ Wireless networks can also be fixed or stationary. An example of a fixed wireless network is the home WiFi internet that
allows you to stay connected in a fixed location (your home) with limited mobility.

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Is there a difference between
mobile and cellular networks?
▪ A mobile network is also known as a cellular network which is technically accurate but may lead to confusion,
especially for those who wonder why we use two different terminologies for the same thing.
▪ The ‘mobile’ bit in mobile communications refers to the mobility aspect, which is essential for the value that
mobile phones offer. That means an end-user can move around as much as they like at any speed without losing
their network connection.
▪ The network connection of mobile users is enabled by the ‘cellular’ technology, which is where the term ‘cell’
comes from. Mobile networks are built up of a vast number of interconnected cells that are deployed
nationwide.
▪ The tall masts or towers within a mobile network that manage the communication between a mobile phone and
a mobile network are called base stations or cellular towers. The place where a cellular tower is installed is
called a cell site. The picture on the left shows what a cellular tower looks like.
▪ As you may notice in the picture, base stations have long white rectangular objects mounted on them, which are
the cellular antennas. These antennas are responsible for transmitting signals to your phone and for receiving
signals back from your phone. This dual role of ‘transmitting’ and ‘receiving’ is why the base stations are also
called base transceiver stations or BTS.
▪ The emission of signals from the base stations creates cellular coverage. Mobile operators use a large number of
base stations to enable nationwide coverage so that their customers stay connected no matter where they are. A photo of a real-life base station.

▪ Each base station has multiple cells, and each cell is created by a radio unit operating at a specific frequency.

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Inter-connected cells are deployed
nationwide so that a cell phone in a certain
location can contact another cell phone in
another location.
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What exactly is a cell in mobile
communications?
▪ If you read any technical documentation about mobile communications, you will see small hexagons that network engineers or
technical authors draw to represent cells. The diagram on the left shows what a cell looks like in theory.
▪ In real life, the shape of a cell is irregular. It can vary depending on how far the radiations coming out of a radio unit can travel
without being obstructed.
▪ In most technical documentations, cells look very symmetrical without any overlaps. In real life, though, there is a certain
amount of overlap to allow for the handover to take place from one cell to another.
▪ When a caller initiates a call on their phone, the cell that can offer the best signal strength and capacity is the one that
facilitates the call. However, when the user moves from one location to another, the mobile network may hand over the call to
another cell if the strength of the serving cell drops.
▪ A cell site may contain multiple cells known as sectors as shown in the diagram (e.g. Cell 1A, 1B and 1C). Cells can vary in size
considerably depending on their use. The coverage range of a regular cell, called a macrocell, is in tens of kilometres. A
microcell which is a smaller cell, can cover up to 2 kilometres. More information about macro and microcells is available on our
website and can be found by clicking here.
▪ Another category of cells, known as ‘small cells’, has been a hot topic in mobile communications. This category mainly includes
femtocells and picocells. Femtocells have a range of up to 10 metres, whereas picocells can serve up to 200 metres. These
cells have been of strategic importance in mobile communications as they allow an operator to address coverage gaps while
also offering additional capacity. Check out this post if you want to learn more about small cells.
▪ Capacity is the availability of mobile network resources to be able to serve an end-user who is connected to the network.
Coverage is when an end-user is in a geographical area that gets mobile signals from a nearby base station. You may have
noticed that sometimes you get a full 4G LTE signal on your phone, but the internet on the phone is still slow. That is because
you may be in the coverage area, but the cell serving you may be too busy serving many other users at the same time.
▪ Mobile operators often name their cell sites based on the location of the site. It is just a practical thing for planning and
engineering purposes. For example, if a mobile operator wants to create a cell site at Oxford train station, they may choose a
name for the cell site that contains a reference to Oxford station.
 Is my phone called a smartphone
or cell phone, or mobile phone?
▪ Mobile phone and cell phone are two different terminologies that represent the same thing. The term
‘mobile phone’ is more common in the UK (and some of Europe), whereas the term ‘cell phone’ is
more common in the US.
▪ In the 1980s and the early 1990s, our mobile phones served one primary purpose: phone calls. That
didn’t require a large screen as the key requirement was mostly fulfilled by the dial pad. But then, as
text messaging and web browsing gained popularity, the screen size started to grow slightly.
▪ The cell phones we used in the 1990s represented the second generation of mobile communications
(2G). When third-generation (3G) came around the year 2000, mobile phones had started to look a lot
smaller and slimmer. Today, those 3G phones are called “feature phones”. Even though those phones
are complete cellular phones, they offer limited options for other forms of communication such as
social media, internet-enabled calls, and browsing etc.
▪ The mobile phones that we use nowadays are called smartphones, and they started their journey
around 2007-2010. As you may know, these phones have computer-like capabilities, and you can do
pretty much everything you can do on a computer.
▪ You can still find feature phones nowadays as your primary or secondary mobile phone if you are
looking for a simpler phone that mainly allows voice calls and text messaging.

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 TELCO BUSINESS

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 Who are the key entities in the telco ecosystem?

▪ Telco business includes a range of different players that exist in the overall ecosystem. If you do an online
search, you may come across a number of players that have a crucial role in the mobile communications
ecosystem.

▪ These players include mobile operators, network vendors, software vendors, regulators, content providers,
device manufacturers, managed services, consulting services, research agencies, consumer customers,
business customers, platform vendors, network performance tool vendors, professional services, and
possibly others.

▪ As you can imagine, it is easy to lose focus due to a large number of players in the overall ecosystem. If only
we knew who the key players were, right?

▪ Wrong! Every player adds a specific value to the overall ecosystem, but not every player may be entirely
relevant for you, depending on where you are coming from.

▪ So, to determine which players are relevant for you, you need to have an ‘angle’. Our angle here is to look at
the ecosystem from the point of view of a mobile operator.

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For the full slide
https://commsbrief.com/mobile-communications-simplified/
deck, visit
Commsbrief
About the author
This slide-deck was produced by Adnan Ghayas for Commsbrief Limited, a limited company registered in England, United Kingdom, under
company number 10719203.

Hey, I am Adnan, and I have been associated with the mobile communications industry for almost two decades. I started my career in
engineering in 2003 when GSM (2G) and UMTS (3G) were the most dominant cellular technologies in Europe. I am lucky enough to have
worked for some of the largest mobile operators and vendors in the telecom industry. The last 13 years of my professional life have been in
product management of telecom products and services for various global markets. I believe in explaining things in plain English to help people
understand cellular concepts without having to worry about all the buzzwords and complex terminologies.

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Useful links
▪ Commsbrief Products: https://commsbrief.com/commsbiref-products/

▪ 2G & 3G Networks: https://commsbrief.com/category/2g-3g-networks/

▪ 4G LTE Networks: https://commsbrief.com/category/4g-networks/

▪ 5G Networks: https://commsbrief.com/category/5g-networks/

▪ Basic Telecom Concepts: https://commsbrief.com/category/telecom-concepts/

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