Evolution to Third-Generation (3G) Mobile Cellular Communications

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the boom of the Internet resulted in the proliferation of unprecedented services, such as email, web browsing, file sharing, search engines, interactive gaming, e-commerce, multimedia messaging, online high-fidelity music, and video streaming. Global Internet traffic witnessed a phenomenal rise, growing at an average annual rate of 127 percent between 1997 and 2003, from just 5 petabytes per month to a staggering 680 petabytes per month. As mobile electronic devices became more affordable and advanced, these services gradually migrated from wired networks to cellular networks, leading to a significant increase in mobile traffic. Mobile IP traffic experienced a tremendous rise since the middle of the 2000s, as mobile traffic exponentially raised with an average annual growth rate of around 150 percent.