The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) unites [Six] telecommunications standard development organizations (A !"# AT!

S# $$SA# %TS!# TTA# TT$)# &no'n as ()rganizational Partners* and provides their mem+ers 'ith a sta+le environment to produce the eports and Speci,ications that de,ine 3GPP technologies-

The project covers cellular telecommunications net'or& technologies# including radio access# the core transport net'or&# and service capa+ilities . including 'or& on codecs# securit/# 0ualit/ o, service . and thus provides complete s/stem speci,ications- The speci,ications also provide hoo&s ,or non.radio access to the core net'or&# and ,or inter'or&ing 'ith 1i.2i net'or&s-

3GPP speci,ications and studies are contri+ution.driven# +/ mem+er companies# in 1or&ing Groups and at the Technical Speci,ication Group level-

The 2our Technical Speci,ication Groups (TSG) in 3GPP are3

adio Access 4et'or&s ( A4)# Service 5 S/stems Aspects (SA)# $ore 4et'or& 5 Terminals ($T) and GS6 %7G% adio Access 4et'or&s (G% A4)-

The 1or&ing Groups# 'ithin the TSGs# meet regularl/ and come together ,or their 0uarterl/ TSG Plenar/ meeting# 'here their 'or& is presented ,or in,ormation# discussion and approval-

%ach TSG has a particular area o, responsi+ilit/ ,or the eports and Speci,ications 'ithin its o'n Terms o, e,erence (7etails availa+le in the Speci,ication Groups pages)-

The last meeting o, the c/cle o, Plenar/ meetings is TSG SA# 'hich also has responsi+ilit/ ,or the overall coordination o, 'or& and ,or the monitoring o, its progress-

8P%G . 39-: &+

The 3GPP technologies ,rom these groups are constantl/ evolving through Generations o, commercial cellular ; mo+ile s/stems (see ta+le +elo')- Since the completion o, the ,irst <T% and the %volved Pac&et $ore speci,ications# 3GPP has +ecome the ,ocal point ,or mo+ile s/stems +e/ond 3G-

Although these Generations have +ecome an ade0uate descriptor ,or the t/pe o, net'or& under discussion# real progress on 3GPP standards is measured +/ the milestones achieved in particular eleases- 4e' ,eatures are =,unctionalit/ ,rozen= and are read/ ,or implementation 'hen a elease is completed- 3GPP 'or&s on a num+er o, eleases in parallel# starting ,uture 'or& 'ell in advance o, the completion o, the current elease- Although this adds some complexit/ to the 'or& o, the groups# such a 'a/ o, 'or&ing ensures that progress is continuous 5 sta+le"ac&'ard $ompati+ilit/

The major ,ocus ,or all 3GPP eleases is to ma&e the s/stem +ac&'ards and ,or'ards compati+le 'here.ever possi+le# to ensure that the operation o, user e0uipment is un. interrupted- A good current example o, this principle has +een the priorit/ placed in the 'or&ing groups on +ac&'ard compati+ilit/ +et'een <T% and <T%.Advanced# so that an <T%.A terminal can 'or& in an <T% cell and an <T% terminal 'or&s in the <T%.A cell-

adio Access 6ilestones

3GPP Technical Speci,ication Group A4# li&e other TSGs# ensures that s/stems +ased on 3GPP speci,ications are capa+le o, rapid development and deplo/ment 'ith the provision o, glo+al roaming o, e0uipment- Some o, the headline 3GPP radio technologies and s/stems over the recent eleases have +een>

releases ?@AB

All o, these advances have provided a high degree o, continuit/ in the evolving s/stems# allo'ing existing e0uipment to +e prepared ,or ,uture ,eatures and ,unctionalit/ .

delivering higher data rates# 0ualit/ o, service and cost e,,iciencies-

%ach progressive 3GPP radio access technolog/ aims to reduce complexit/ and avoid ,ragmentation o, technologies on o,,er-

2ormer A4 $hairman# Ta&ahiro 4a&amura# has identi,ied <T% and SA% standardization in elease C as the most signi,icant 6ilestone achieved to date in the project- This has +een demonstrated +/ the increase in 3GPP participation since the initial 1or&shop on the %volved DT A4# in ?@@B and the su+se0uent mar&et success o, <T%-

This success +rings its o'n challenges and 6r 4a&amura has identi,ied the rise o, the smart phone and its data usage as one o, the greatest challenges ,or the ,uture- Ee comments that ()perators need to 'or& on the pro+lems created in signalling and the volume o, data +eing carried- So# ,urther enhancements to the 3GPP s/stem are +eing driven +/ that data explosion*-

2rom 3GPP elease A@ on'ards . 3GPP <T%.Advanced has +een approved +/ !TD adiocommunication Sector as a !TD. !6T.Advanced adio !nter,ace Technolog/- The <T% standard no' provides ,or pea& speeds o, A@@ 6+it;s ,or high mo+ilit/ and A G+it;s ,or lo' mo+ilit/ communication$ore 4et'or& %volution

GS6 net'or&s used circuit.s'itch telephon/ initiall/# 'ith pac&et.s'itching added 'ith GP S- !n the D6TS architecture# this dual.domain concept 'as &ept on the core net'or& side- Some net'or& elements 'ere evolved# +ut the concept remained ver/ similar-

1hen considering the evolution o, the 3G s/stem# to'ards <T%# the 3GPP communit/ decided to use !P (!nternet Protocol) as the &e/ protocol to transport all services- !t 'as there,ore agreed that the %volved Pac&et $ore (%P$) 'ould not have a circuit.s'itched domain +ut that the %P$ should +e an evolution o, the pac&et.s'itched architecture used in GP S;D6TS-

This decision had conse0uences on the architecture itsel, +ut also on the 'a/ that the services 'ere provided- Traditional use o, circuits to carr/ voice and short messages needed to +e replaced +/ !P.+ased solutions in the long term--- ead more on the %P$ at http>;;'''-3gpp-org;The.%volved.Pac&et.$ore

Atle 6onrad# the 3GPP $T $hairman considers the completion o, the $ore 4et'or& protocols ,or <T% and the start o, ,ull/ deplo/ed pac&ed +ased mo+ile s/stems# including voice over !P (Fo<T% ; ! -G?) as major milestones ,or the industr/ and ,or 3GPP-

clic& to see %P$ 'e+ page The Generations o, 3GPP S/stems Generation AG GS6 5 3GPP 6ajor 6ilestones

Analogue technolog/# ,rom the AGC@s on.'ards-

Farious technologies 'ere deplo/ed# 4ationall/ or egionall/# including> 46T (4ordic 6o+ile Telephone)# A6PS (Advanced 6o+ile Phone S/stem)# TA$S (Total Access $ommunications S/stem)# A.4etz to %.4etz# adiocom ?@@@# T6! ( adio Tele,ono 6o+ile !ntegrato)# 8TA$S (8apan Total Access $ommunications S/stem) and TH.C@n (Source>'i&ipedia) ?G 2irst digital s/stems# deplo/ed in the AGG@s introducing voice# S6S and data servicesThe Primar/ ?G technologies are> GS6;GP S# $76A)ne# P7$# i7%4# !S.A39 or 7.A6PS-

GS6;GP S accounts ,or over C@I o, all ?G su+scri+ers (Source>'i&ipedia) 3G Allo'ed a glo+al vision ,or the evolution o, ?G net'or&s# 'ith technologies that are enhancing the!6T.?@@@ ,amil/ o, s/stemsPrimar/ technologies are %7G% (%nhanced 7ata ,or GS6)# $76A?@@@ AJ;%F7)# D6TS.ESPAK 6oving +e/ond 3G <T% and <T%.Advanced have crossed the (generational +oundar/*

o,,ering the next generation(s) o, capa+ilities- 1ith their capacit/ ,or high speed data# signi,icant spectral e,,iciencies and adoption o, advanced radio techni0ues# their emergence is +ecoming the +asis ,or all ,uture mo+ile s/stems-

!t should +e noted that <T%.Advanced has 0uali,ied as an !TD. inter,ace 1hat comes nextL

!6T.Advanced radio

3GPP elease A? has a 2unctional ,reeze date (including sta+le protocols) +/ Septem+er ?@A:- !t encompasses nearl/ ?@@ ne' top.level M2eatures=# resulting in a 'ide variet/ o, ne' ,unctionalit/ and improvements to existing ,eatures# re,lected in thousands o, ne' or updated speci,ications- elease A? also includes 9@ ne' studies (Pu+lished in Technical eports . T s)-

A signi,icant proportion o, 3GPP=s recent 'or& has +een ,ocused on channel aggregation# to meet the gro'ing demands o, data transmission- )ther priorities in the radio aspects area include topics related to higher data rates and increased capacit/# either +/ the use o, more ,re0uenc/ +ands# or +/ ,urther improvements in spectral e,,icienc/- 3GPP 'ill address energ/ saving# cost e,,icienc/ (including the use o, Sel,. )ptimising 4et'or&s (S)4))# support ,or diverse application and tra,,ic t/pes# and +ac&haul enhancements-

!n the s/stems area# 3GPP is loo&ing at promoting ne' +usiness opportunities# in pu+lic sa,et/ and critical communications# proximit/ services and machine.t/pe communications- !n the area o, 1i2i integration# 3GPP 'ill 'or& on net'or& selection aspects# S?a mo+ilit/ 'ith the GP S Tunnelling Protocol (GTP) ,or 1<A4s# and optimised o,,loading to 1<A4 in 3GPP adio Access Technolog/ ( AT) mo+ilit/- !n the area o, s/stem capacit/ and sta+ilit/# issues o, user.plane congestion and core net'or& overload 'ill +e addressed-

At the end o, ?@A3# %TS! held a 2uture 6o+ile Summit# to loo& at the longer term ,utureThe Summit provided man/ thought provo&ing presentations on the direction that 3GPP could ta&e# +e/ond <T%.Advanced-

2or details o, the contents o, each elease# see the appropriate = elease 7escription=

document (see lin& at +ottom o, this page)-

7etails o, all 3GPP 1or& !tems are in the 3GPP 1or& Plan# 'hich provides details o, the co.operation +et'een all o, the 3GPP groups on N2eaturesN# de,ined as =ne' or su+stantiall/ enhanced ,unctionalit/ 'hich represents added value to the existing 3GPP s/stem=3GPP Scope

The original scope o, 3GPP (AGGC) 'as to produce Technical Speci,ications and Technical eports ,or a 3G 6o+ile S/stem +ased on evolved GS6 core net'or&s and the radio access technologies that the/ support (i-e-# Dniversal Terrestrial adio Access (DT A) +oth 2re0uenc/ 7ivision 7uplex (277) and Time 7ivision 7uplex (T77) modes)-

The scope 'as su+se0uentl/ amended to include the maintenance and development o, the Glo+al S/stem ,or 6o+ile communication (GS6) Technical Speci,ications and Technical eports including evolved radio access technologies (e-g- General Pac&et adio Service (GP S) and %nhanced 7ata rates ,or GS6 %volution (%7G%))-

3GPP 'as created in 7ecem+er AGGC +/ the signing o, the NThe 3rd Generation Partnership Project AgreementN- The latest 3GPP Scope and )+jectives document has evolved ,rom this original Agreement-

The discussions that led to the signing o, the 3GPP Agreement 'ere recorded in a series o, slides called the NPartnership Project 7escriptionN that descri+es the +asic principles and ideas on 'hich the project is +ased- The Partnership Project 7escription has not +een maintained since its ,irst creation +ut the principles o, operation o, the project still remain valid-

2AO Ta+le o, contents 1ho can +ecome an !ndividual 6em+er o, 3GPP and ho' much does it costL 1ho ma/ participate in 3GPP meetingsL 1ho shall ,ill in the 3GPP !ndividual 6em+er Application ,ormL 1hat shall ! do i, a 3GPP compan/ or o,,icial contact details

changeL 7i,,erent mem+ership categoriesL 1ho ma/ +ecome an o+serverL 1ho ma/ +ecome a Guest 6em+er and do guests have to (---) more P