Europe's packet switched wireless data (not voice) communication technology based on Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard. GPRS offers maximum speed of 115 kilobits per second (kb/s) and typical speed of 40 to 50 kb/s, compared to the maximum GSM speed of 9.6 kb/s. Introduced in 2002, it provides intermittent data transfer (in short bursts of about 500 octet size) and user is billed for the amount of data sent, not for airtime.