The RACE (Research and Development in Advanced Communications Technologies in Europe) 1043 mobile telecommunication project studies a third-generation mobile telecommunication system called the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). A brief description is given of the fundamental requirements to be met by UMTS and some results in the fixed network area achieved during the first three years of the project are highlighted. An important characteristic of UMTS is the universal aspect, which means availability anywhere, both indoors and outdoors. It is explained that an essential subject in UMTS is the integration with networks for fixed telecommunications. New network concepts are also needed to reduce the signaling load within the network. Two of these new concepts, separation of call and connection control and distributed databases, are discussed.