A shift in the mobile network service provisioning paradigm

The primary objective of future service provisioning schemes is to allow mo bile network operators/service providers to offer ubiquitous service appear ances to their globally roaming users. To achieve this service provisioning objective, a shift in service standardization is taking place. Various thi rd-generation (3G) network standardization communities-such as the Third-Ge neration Partnership Project (3GPP) the Third-Generation Partnership Projec t 2 (3GPP2), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-are active ly pursuing standardization of service capabilities as opposed to services. This paper presents a new scheme for provisioning new services that are op erator specific, and as such they are not necessarily standardized. It cont ains an overview of the International Mobile Telecommunications 2000 (IMT-2 000) family of systems concept and its global roaming environment. It descr ibes the supporting network entity of the IMT-2000 and introduces the relay service control (RSC) scenario of the virtual home environment (VHE) schem e, as well as the flexible access authorization (FAA) method. These form th e three key aspects of 3G networks, which together will globally offer the largest possible portfolio of real-time mobile telephony services. This pap er also explores the combined impacts of applying these new concepts to ach ieve the ambitious goal of offering "any service" (via the supporting netwo rk entity),"anywhere" (using the VHE scheme), at "any time" (using the FAA method). Finally, the new service provisioning system is applied to the eme rging voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) network configuration.