3GPP: Brief Organisational Guide for Newcomers

This is a brief guide for newcomers from industry verticals. For more information please consult the links below to the 3GPP website. 

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a global initiative that unites seven telecommunications standard development organisations, known as Organisational Partners (OPs). Collectively, ETSI (EU), CCSA (China), TSDI (India), ARIB and TTC (Japan), TTA (Korea) and ATIS (North America) provide their members with a stable environment to produce the reports and specifications that define 3GPP technologies. 

 3GPP specifications and studies are contribution-driven, by member organisations, through Working Groups (WG) and at the Technical Specification Group (TSG) level. 

The TSGs cover different aspects of the 3GPP system and process, spanning:

• Services and systems aspects (SA)
• Radio access networks (RAN)
• Core network and terminals (CT)

Note that language, methods and levels of complexity within each WG may vary.  

Any organisation, vertical or otherwise, joining 3GPP needs to factor in human resources, including travel to plenary and WG  meetings across the globe, as well as time and effort to contribute inputs and follow them through. 

For more information about membership, please click on the link. 

Market Representation Partnerships (MRPs): invited by 3GPP OPs to offer market advice and bring into 3GPP a consensus view of market requirements across services, features and functionality within 3GPP scope. For more information,  please click on this link.