We’ve all seen them: bustling businessmen and women attached to their mobile phones, trying to save, take on, or conquer the world, one call, e-mail, or text message at 
a time. Or maybe they’re just playing a quick game of Bejeweled Blitz.
 

Whatever the device’s use of the moment, the overall demands 
of mobile phones have grown exponentially in recent years. Necessarily? That depends on your perspective. But we have largely become a world of gadgets, and 
the mobile phone is the most utilised gadget in the world.
 

The talk of the last decade has 
been 3G. If you’re not getting 
a 3G network phone, you ‘must be behind’. Text messages may reach their destination in three seconds instead of two. Why, to hear tech heads talk about the current crop of mobile devices, you would think 2G was the mobile network equivalent of Atari’s Pong. Yet 80% of mobile connections around the globe are still generated on 2G networks.
 

And now, 4G has entered the marketplace. Considering the ‘G’ stands for generation, it could be argued the technology is breeding 
a tad quickly. But, like anything else, it’s supply and demand. And with the demand always for bigger and faster, 4G is the mobile market’s young prodigy.
 

“The improved network speed, efficiency, and capacity provided 
by 4G, together with the increasing capabilities of converged mobile devices will lead to increased rich media content and applications,” says business information analyst DataMonitor of 4G technology. 
At this point, though, 4G is a marketing term lacking a true definition. Whereas 3G networks must consistently deliver speeds 
of more than 200kb/second, there 
is no such standard for 4G. 
It’s a label…for now.
 

How we got here

There are two main components 
of a mobile network. The ‘local link’ is the wireless connection from your phone to the closest base station, typically atop a tower or building. The ‘backhaul’ is the connection from that base station to the mobile company’s main network.
 

Remember those clunky, brick-sized mobile phones 25 years ago? They were cumbersome and weighed a relative tonne. But you could talk on the move, and at that point that was all anyone cared about. These used analogue local links and digital backhauls.
 

They became classified as 1G when, in the early ’90s, local links were made digital as well. That new technology became known as 2G, and enabled texting and phone-based e-mail.
 

A decade later, that digital technology was improved, bringing 3G. This meant faster data rates and streaming video. In addition, videoconferencing was made possible through the introduction of simultaneous voice and data traffic, forging a dramatic leap 
in the business effectiveness 
of mobile devices.
 

Let’s face it, technical definitions don’t matter to users. It’s all about what you can do. And the idea of 4G’s leap is to bring faster Web browsing and gaming, smoother video chat and mobile TV, fewer dropped calls, and the introduction of streaming HDTV.
 

Leading the way

So who will provide this?

China Mobile leads the mobile pack, serving more than half a billion customers. Though 3G only reached China in 2009, the network’s sheer mass – buoyed by government control – makes it the most valuable mobile telecom outfit in the world.
 

While China Mobile has the most subscribers, nobody has the reach 
 of the United Kingdom’s Vodafone. With more than 420 million subscribers through operations in 31 countries and partner networks in a further 40 countries, Vodafone’s footprint is massive. Consider that not only does it rule England’s market, it also owns nearly half 
of US-based Verizon Wireless, itself 
a major North American entity 
and a leading advancer of mobile technology.
 

Aside from its size, Vodafone is 
a pioneer. In April 2001, the first 
3G voice call was made on Vodafone UK’s 3G network. In February this year, Vodafone launched the world’s cheapest mobile phone, the Vodafone 150, which costs less than US$15 and is aimed at developing countries, initially launched in India, Turkey, and eight African countries including Lesotho, Kenya, and Ghana.
 

Telefonica rules the Spanish and Latin American market, and smartly set up shop in Miami as a base from which to provide services to US corporations that do business in Latin America and Europe.
 

The most fractured markets are arguably India – split amongst Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, BSNL, and Tata Teleservices – and the USA, in which Germany’s T-Mobile, the aforementioned Verizon Wireless, and AT&T each hold a large segment.
 

What all of these providers mean 
for you, the user, is that the technology will likely reach your hands faster and faster as we move ahead. The rush to stay ahead of each other, business analysts note, will ensure that.
 

“4G will roll out faster than 3G for several reasons. Some of them have to do with competition,” Wharton Business Ethics Professor Kevin Werbach says.
 

And when 4G calls, the public will assuredly be there to answer.