Over the years, users of mobile phones explored new types of use and expectations of our mobile devices rose.
Over the years, users of mobile phones explored new types of use and expectations of our mobile devices rose. The networks also became used as a means to transport digital data next to voice. Again the developments placed increasing demands on mobile networks. In response, a set of new network technologies and standards collectively named 3G were developed. NTT DoCoMo launched this third generation network technology in Japan in 2001. Other countries and network operators soon followed. The availability of this new network standard spurred the development of many new applications like streaming media that required ever more bandwidth. As a result of the growing bandwidth-hunger the telecom industry began looking for ways to optimize network technologies for larger amounts of data. These new standards became known as 4G and are together with 3G in use at time of writing of this article. As the amount of data we use still increases, it is likely that new network technology (which is currently under development) will be made available in the future to cover increased demands. This new standard will then be known as 5G-network technology.