centric community that is also mobile. Number of Internet users-400 million Number of wireless users-700 million Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. GPRS Introduction GPRS Introduction Figure 2-1 (in billions) The number of subscribers on the Internet. Cable Wireless Wireline By the year 2005, we can expect that more than 1 billion people will be mobile wireless users on a worldwide basis and by 2006, more than 1 billion people will be Internet users. We are adding over 100 million new Internet users per year. This growth is unheralded in the past century of the telecom- munications industry. The phenomenal growth in wireline Internet sub- scribers points to the possibility of wireless operators capturing some of this market. This assumes that they can offer comparable price-performance capabilities. The factors that we can consider in the process are Wireless users are ideal target subscribers for Internet providers. Internet users are ideal target subscribers for GSM operators. Several movements in the Internet community will also force changes. The demographics of the user will change dramatically as the world expands its wireless and Internet presence. The average user will be look- ing for developments in the new Internet that will provide a broader band communications speed, the capability of using a network-enabled appli- ance, and a full network capable of sourcing all the needs and applications through high-end portals that can offer the goods and services needed. Instant information for a mobile workforce is paramount. In addition to customer demand, this revolution is greatly accelerated by technology disruptions. Three technologies are at the fundamental science level. One is summarized in the well-known Moore's Law, which states that the capacity of an individual chip will double once every 18 to 24 months. Therefore