At the 51st plenary meetings of 3GPP, held in Kansas City, the Radio Access Network (RAN) group has been the first to complete its leadership election process.

As a mark of the success of his work over the past two years, Takehiro Nakamura, NTT DOCOMO was appointed*, by acclamation, for a second term as 3GPP TSG RAN Chairman.

In his first term, Mr. Nakamura has guided the group through to the completion of the radio parts of Release 8 and 9 of the standard, which - when combined with the complimentary Systems Architecture and Core network evolution - has allowed LTE Networks to become operational and stable in an impressively short time.

In 2010 and the first part of 2011, RAN have maintained the work rate and are now on the cusp of the successful Freeze of the radio parts for 3GPP Release 10 (Including LTE-Advanced specifications), providing the functionality that will enable 3GPP to meet and exceed the requirements for future radio interfaces – under the IMT-Advanced process from the ITU-R.

The three TSG RAN Vice-chairs have also been appointed at RAN#51, for a two year term of office.

*All Election results are subject to 3GPP Project Coordination Group approval at their next meeting (PCG#26).