Dieter Hirschmann <100136.74@compuserve.com> writes:

Spectrum Information Technologies, John Sculley's new company, might have some rough times ahead of it (see TidBITS #199 for more information). Some people think that the U.S. will eventually adopt the GSM system, a cellular radio-telephony network with digital transmission of speech, computer data, and signaling information. GSM was designed in France, is based on ISDN architecture, and has been in use for a year and a half in a dozen European countries.

Within the next few years, approximately 50 other countries - including Russia - will introduce GSM. Also, Motorola's satellite-telephony system, which is based on GSM, will be operational by the end of the decade. Thus, it seems likely that U.S. telephone companies will move in this direction soon, replacing their old analog cellular phone networks with digital technology. The latter allows 100 percent error-free data communications like faxing, file transfer, and Internet communications by transmitting digital, quadrature-modulated signals. In GSM, Spectrum's error-correction products are as unnecessary as white out with MacWrite Pro.