A company, also known as service provider, that provides mobile phone users with services and subscriptions to mobile phone networks.

CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) is a type of technique, allowed with the introduction of 2G networks, for multiplexing digital transmission of radio signals in which each voice or data call uses the whole radio band, and is assigned a unique code.

The basic geographic unit of a cellular system and the basis for the generic industry term “cellular.” A city is divided into small “cells”, each of which is equipped with a low-powered radio transmitter/receiver or base station. The cells can vary in size depending on terrain and capacity demands.

Cloud Services or computing is an information technology (IT) paradigm, a model for enabling ubiquitous access to shared pools of configurable resources (such as computer networks, servers, storage, applications and services), which can be rapidly provisioned with minimal management effort, often over the Internet. Cloud computing allows users and enterprises with various computing capabilities to store and process data either in a privately-owned cloud, or on a third-party server located in a data center – thus making data-accessing mechanisms more efficient and reliable.[3][need quotation to verify] Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and economy of scale, s

The capability to provide, to end-users, connections to the internet or other communication networks.

Refers to the range of a mobile cellular network, measured in terms of geographic coverage (the percentage of the territorial area covered by mobile cellular) or population coverage (the percentage of the population within range of a mobile cellular network).

EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) is the final stage of the evolution of the GSM standard, bringing 2G closer to 3G capacity for data transfer (faster download). EDGE was launched on GSM networks for the first time in the US in 2003 with a typical speed of 384 KB/s.

The process of converting plain text into code to secure information from being read by unauthorized persons or those without special computing knowledge.

Standard wired LAN protocol. Includes physical and link layers.

The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one gigabyte is 1000000000bytes. The unit symbol for the gigabyte is GB.

Gigabits per second: 1 Gbps = 1024 Mbps. Gbps measures data transmission over a carrier.

Geolocation is the wireless detection of the physical location of a remote device. As a noun, geolocation refers to the physical location itself; as a verb, the term refers to the process of detecting that location.

Gigahertz (1,000,000,000Hz).

The GPS (Global Positioning System) is a “constellation” of approximately 30 well-spaced satellites that orbit the Earth and make it possible for people with ground receivers to pinpoint their geographic location. The location accuracy is anywhere from 100 to 10 meters for most equipment. Accuracy can be pinpointed to within one (1) meter with special military-approved equipment. GPS equipment is widely used in science and has now become sufficiently low-cost so that almost anyone can own a GPS receiver.

Google Play (formerly Android Market) is Google’s app store for Android mobile devices (smartphones and tablets).

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a packet-switching technology that enables high-speed data transmission of up to 115 KB/s. It is an enhancement for GSM, often described as 2.5G.

Global Positioning System is a direct connection to satellites that determines the exact geographical position of a receiver. Satnavs use GPS connection but many smartphones today also have a built-in GPS system. This allows the user to use their smartphone as a satnav.

GSM (Global Systems for Mobile Communications) is a digital mobile cellular standard developed and widely used in Europe. It is one of the main 2G digital wireless standards.

The GSM Association (commonly referred to as ‘the GSMA’) is a trade body that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide. Approximately 800 mobile operators are full GSMA members and a further 300 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem are associate members. The GSMA represents its members via industry programmes, working groups and industry advocacy initiatives. It also organises the mobile industry’s largest annual exhibition and conference, the Mobile World Congress, and several other events.

An in-app purchase (IAP) is something bought from within an application, typically a mobile app running on a smartphone or other mobile device.

Each SIM is internationally identified by its integrated circuit card identifier (ICCID). ICCIDs are stored in the SIM cards and are also engraved or printed on the SIM card body during a process called personalisation. The ICCID is defined by the ITU-T recommendation E.118 as the Primary Account Number. Its layout is based on ISO/IEC 7812. According to E.118, the number is up to 22 digits long. However, the GSM Phase 1 defined the ICCID length as 10 octets (20 digits) with operator-specific structure.

Instant Messaging. It refers to programs such as AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ that allow users to exchange messages with other users over the internet with a maximum delay of one or two seconds at peak times.

IMAP is one of the most popular email formats currently in use, it stands for stands for ‘Internet Message Access Protocol’.

IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) is a 15- or 17-digit code that uniquely identifies mobile phone sets. The IMEI code can enable a GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) or UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service) network to prevent a misplaced or stolen phone from initiating calls. In most mobile communications devices, the IMEI appears on the display when the user enters the character sequence *#06# (star-pound-zero-six-pound) into the keypad. The IMEI code may also be printed inside the battery compartment. When a phone set is lost or stolen, the owner can call the CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register) and blacklist the device according to its IMEI number. After that action, the set will in most cases become useless, even if someone swaps out the unit’s SIM card (subscriber identity module). However, although it is not an easy task, a skilled and determined cracker can sometimes change the IMEI number and use a stolen set to place calls. Immediately after purchasing a mobile communications device, the owner should record the IMEI code in a secure place so that it can be quickly accessed in the event of loss or theft.

The International Mobile Subscriber Identity or IMSI is used to identify the user of a cellular network and is a unique identification associated with all cellular networks. It is stored as a 64 bit field and is sent by the phone to the network. It is also used for acquiring other details of the mobile in the home location register (HLR) or as locally copied in the visitor location register. To prevent eavesdroppers identifying and tracking the subscriber on the radio interface, the IMSI is sent as rarely as possible and a randomly generated TMSI is sent instead. The IMSI is used in any mobile network that interconnects with other networks. For GSM, UMTS and LTE network, this number is provisioned in the SIM card and for CDMA2000 in the phone directly or in the R-UIM card (the CDMA2000 analogue to a SIM card for GSM). An IMSI is usually presented as a 15 digit number, but can be shorter (not longer). For example, MTN South Africa’s old IMSIs that are still being used in the market are shown as 14 digits. The first 3 digits are the mobile country code (MCC), which are followed by the mobile network code (MNC), either 2 digits (European standard) or 3 digits (North American standard). The length of the MNC depends on the value of the MCC, and it is recommended that the length is uniform within a MCC area. The remaining digits are the mobile subscription identification number (MSIN) within the network’s customer base (mostly 10 or 9 digits depending on the MNC length).

The combination of information on current event and entertainment content or of their formats.

International mobile roaming is a service that allows mobile users to continue to use their mobile phone or other mobile device to make and receive voice calls and text messages, browse the internet, and send and receive emails, while visiting another country.

Interconnected global networks that use the internet protocol (see IP).

iOS is Apple’s operating system native to all of Apple’s mobile devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch).

IP stands for Internet Protocol and is the principal communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet.

internet protocol telephony. IP telephony is used as a generic term for the conveyance of voice, fax and related services, partially or wholly over packet-based, IP-based networks. See also VoIP and Voice over broadband.

The generic term describes a system where a digital television service is delivered using the Internet Protocol over a network infrastructure.

Internet protocol version 4. The version of IP in common use today.

Internet protocol version 6. The emerging standard, which aims to rectify some of the problems seen with IPv4, in particular the shortage of address space.

The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The International System of Units (SI) defines the prefix kilo as 1000 (103); therefore one kilobyte is 1000 bytes. The unit symbol for the kilobyte is kB. In information technology, particularly in reference to main memory capacity, kilobyte is traditionally used to denote 1024 (210) bytes. This arises from the powers-of-two sizing common to such memory in digital circuitry. In this context, the symbols K and KB are often used when 1024 bytes is meant.

Kilobits per second: A unit of data transfer rate equal to 1024 bits per second.

Machine to machine (M2M) is a broad label that can be used to describe any technology that enables networked devices to exchange information and perform actions without the manual assistance of humans.

The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix mega is a multiplier of 1000000 (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes of information. This definition has been incorporated into the International System of Quantities.

Megabit per second: A unit of data transfer rate equal to 1,048,576 bits per second or 1,024 kilobits per second.

Micro USB is a miniaturized version of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface developed for connecting compact and mobile devices such as smartphones, MP3 players, GPS devices, photo printers and digital cameras.

Small payments that are typically aggregated by an m-wallet provider or other payment processor.

MicroSD is a type of removable flash memory card often used in mobile phones.

MiFi is a portable broadband device that allows multiple end users and mobile devices to share a 3G or 4G mobile broadband Internet connection and create an ad-hoc network. Although MiFi’s are manufactured by Novatel, the name is often used as a generic label for any device capable of becoming a personal hotspot or pocket router. Although some smartphones have the capability to be used as hotspots, they do not have the management capabilities that MiFi offers to control data consumption on connected devices. Additionally, because the phone is not a dedicated device like MiFi, the phone’s owner must turn the hotspot feature on whenever sharing is desired — and during that time, the phone itself cannot behave as a Wi-Fi client. On some phones, taking a voice call disrupts 3G/4G data flow, suspending personal mobile hotspot service for other Wi-Fi devices using it at that time. The name MiFi is thought to stand for “my WiFi.” Some 3G/4G carriers sell MiFi’s (or similar devices) with pay-as-you-go plans, while others require a monthly fee or annual contract.

MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is a standard for telephony messaging systems that enable the sending of messages that include multimedia objects (images, audio, video, rich text). It may or may not include normal text.

Mobile Network Operator. An operator of a wireless network for mobile phones.

A mobile app is a software application developed specifically for use on small, wireless computing devices, such as smartphones and tablets, rather than desktop or laptop computers.

Wireless high-speed internet access through a portable modem, telephone or other device.

See carriers.

refers to an internet access over a mobile network.

A mobile hotspot is an ad hoc wireless access point that is created by a dedicated hardware device or a smartphone feature that shares the phone’s cellular data. Mobile hotspots are also known as portable hotspots. The hardware devices used to create them, officially known as pocket or travel routers, are sometimes referred to as mobile hotspots as well. They are also often generically known as MiFi’s, although that name is owned by Novatel in the United States and many other countries.

SMS and/or MMS message sent to a handset.

See carriers.

The Mobile Web is a channel for delivery of web content, which adapts the content to a mobile context. The mobile context is characterised by different things such as mobile constraints (screen size, keyboard input) and special capabilities (location, connection type such as 3G or WiFi).

MPEG Layer 3: An audio storage protocol that stores music in a compressed format with very little loss in sound quality. MP3 is the most common MPEG format for audio files. MP3 files can be played using the music player of the mobile phone or set as a ringtone.

A mobile phone application that allows you to listen to music files stored in the phone’s internal or external memory.

Mobile Virtual Network Operator. A company that, to end-users, appears to be a wireless network operator. Unlike a standard wireless carrier, however, an MVNO does not own the Base Station Subsystem (BSS) that Mobile Network Operators (MNO) do. MVNOs also may not necessarily own other infrastructure one normally associates with an MNO, such as MSCs, and Home Location Registers (HLRs). More importantly, MVNOs do not hold licenses to radio spectrum; instead they purchase network capacity from wireless carriers that do hold licenses and which do operate the network infrastructure necessary for wireless phone communication.

OS stands for Operating System and is the software that runs a mobile device. Apple’s iPhone runs on its native iOS, Android phones use a different OS, and Blackberry still another.

Over The Air (OTA) (or Over-The-Air) is a standard for the transmission and reception of application-related information in a wireless communications system. The standard is supported by Nokia, SmartTrust, and others.

Over-The-Top (OTT) is where a telecommunications service provider delivers one or more services across an IP network. The IP networks is predominantly the public internet although sometimes telco-run cloud services delivered via a corporation’s existing IP-VPN from another provider, as opposed to the carrier’s own access network. It embraces a variety of telco services including communications (e.g. voice and messaging), content (e.g. TV and music) and cloud-based (e.g. compute and storage) offerings.

Quality of Service. A measure of how reliable a carrier’s service is. Usually expressed in terms of availability and measured, as how often available, by .99999 or five nines, which is the top level of reliability.

Q-SIM is the SIM card coming from Qynamic coming with attractive offerings for worldwide mobile internet. For details see www.qynamic.com

Q-TopUp allows Qynamic customers to buy additional data packages. For details see www.qynamic.com

Q-Travel is an offer from Qynamic addressing the needs for people on the move internationally. For details see www.qynamic.com

Refers to a mobile phone that supports the four major GSM frequency bands (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), making it compatible with all the major GSM networks in the world. The 850/1900 MHz bands are mainly used in the US, while the 900/1800 MHz ones are available in most other countries worldwide.

A selfie is a self-portrait, typically a photograph, that is posted online. The most common places for selfies are blogs, social networking sites, such as Facebook, and photo-sharing websites, such as Instagram.

Subscriber Identity Module.

A SIM card, also known as a subscriber identity module, is a smart card that stores data for GSM cellular telephone subscribers. Such data includes user identity, location and phone number, network authorization data, personal security keys, contact lists and stored text messages. Security features include authentication and encryption to protect data and prevent eavesdropping.

GSM phones can be “locked”, that is made to accept only SIM cards belonging to a specific network. Typically, this is done so that phones will work only on the network of the carrier. SIM-locked phones are usually locked to a carrier when the carrier sells the device at a subsidized price in order to attract new subscribers to its services. Some carriers offer a SIM unlock option to their subscribers after a certain amount of time has passed. Unlocking the phone can be done by entering a special code which is generated based on the phone’s unique IMEI number. Some third-party shops offer unauthorized unlocking of SIM-locked phones, but using their services usually voids the official warranty of the phone.

A standard for value added wireless services that allows the end-user to establish an interactive exchange with network applications.

A single-band phone is one that operates on one frequency only. This makes the phone unable to operate in areas where the service providers do not support its frequency.

Siri is Apple’s voice-recognition service for iOS devices.

Refers to the unauthorized capture by an intruder of electronic information contained in a chip or tag, such as a passport chip.

Skype is a telecommunications application software product that specializes in providing video chat and voice calls between computers, tablets, mobile devices, the Xbox One console, and smartwatches via the Internet and to regular telephones. Skype additionally provides instant messaging services. Users may transmit both text and video messages, and may exchange digital documents such as images, text, and video. Skype allows video conference calls.

The smartphone is the new generation of mobile phones optimised for using mobile Internet and applications. It typically has touch-screen features and gives you the possibility to surf the Internet and download games/applications. Very much like a mini-computer!

A smartphone is a term used to describe a category of mobile devices with computer-like functionality. These devices sport complete operating system and have a platform for application developers. Currently, the two major smartphone platforms in use are Android (by Google) and iOS (by Apple). An application written for a specific platform can usually work on any smartphone using the same platform. Applications for smartphones are also faster and better integrated with the phone’s UI than Java applications. Smartphones have larger displays and faster processors than so-called feature phones or dumb phones.

SMS (Short Message Service) is a messaging system that allows sending messages between mobile devices that consist of short messages, normally with text only content.

The radio frequency spectrum of Hertzian waves used as a transmission medium for cellular radio, radiopaging, satellite communication, over-the-air broadcasting and their services.

A feature present on all mobile phones that allows the user to program a button from the alphanumeric keypad to automatically dial a custom phone number upon a longer press.

An Internet derived expression for the one-way transmission of video and audio content. When streaming video, the video is not downloaded onto your device, but it is viewed directly online via your device (still using of your data allowance).

Streaming video is a feature that allows real-time viewing of web video on a mobile device. This allows users to enjoy a video without downloading it prior to watching.

Product or services initiated by a mobile subscriber to receive content on an ongoing basis, typically with periodic bill due to payment. It is not a one-time usage service.

Symbian is a OS used on smartphones, particularly the older generation of smartphones from the beginning of this millennium. It is still used by some smartphones (e.g. Nokia) but is quickly loosing its market share.

A type of two-way communication with virtually no time delay, allowing participants to respond in real time.

See 3G.

Unified messaging (sometimes referred to as the unified messaging system or UMS) is the handling of voice, fax, and regular text messages as objects in a single mailbox that a user can access either with a regular e-mail client or by telephone. The PC user can open and play back voice messages, assuming their PC has multimedia capabilities. Fax images can be saved or printed.

A phone without a carrier SIM lock.

USB is a standard for a wired connection between two electronic devices, including a mobile phone and a desktop computer. The connection is made by a cable that has a connector at either end. One end, the one that plugs into the computer, is the same across all USB cables while the one that plugs into the mobile device can be of various types such as miniUSB, microUSB or a proprietary connector. USB version 1.1 provides maximum speeds of up to 1.5 MB/s while the current version 2.0 is about 40 times faster. The versions are backwards compatible and the speed is limited by the slower device. Transferring data may require drivers to be installed on the desktop computer but some phones offer “mass storage” mode which means they appear as thumb drives to the computer and no special drivers are needed. In addition to their data transferring application, USB cables also carry an electric charge that can be used to power peripherals (such as USB mice or keyboards), and many mobile phones can be charged through their USB port.

Refers to SIM card.

WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is a format of mobile web that relies on WML mark-up language and special protocols designed for ultra-efficient transmission of content to limited devices over limited connections.

WAP 2.0 is a popular format of choice for mobile web that relies on a new set of standards that are more in line with Internet standards. Using xHTML, mobile carriers, content providers and media companies can present content and functionality in more robust formats via faster wireless technologies.

WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) is a high-speed 3G mobile wireless technology with the capacity to offer higher data speeds than CDMA and therefore can transmit and receive information faster and more efficiently.

A widget is a third-party lightweight web application that can be embedded in a 3G mobile phone. In Android smartphones this is a particularly visible feature in that the user can place widgets on the home-screen (e.g. a clock, weather forecast, Facebook updates).

WiFi is the wireless connection you get through a local network (e.g. your Internet hub at home) rather than the mobile network (e.g. 3G connection), which requires a subscription and often has a usage limit.

Windows Mobile was a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft for smartphones and Pocket PCs. Launched in 2000, it was the predecessor of Windows Phone and was discontinued with the introduction of its successor in 2010.

Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform. Launched in second half of 2010, Microsoft had created a new and much neater user interface called Metro.

See WiFi

World Wide Web. (1) Technically refers to the hypertext servers (HTTP servers) which are the servers that allow text, graphics, and sound files to be mixed together. (2) Loosely refers to all types of resources that can be accessed.