October 24, 2016

3GPP has exhibited at the Broadband World Forum (BBWF), held this year at the Excel in London, with both ETSI and 3GPP providing speakers on the 4G/5G theme;

• Adrian Scrase (ETSI CTO) on the 'Why, when, where, what & how of 5G standards'
• Dino Flore (3GPP RAN Chairman) on 'LTE evolution and 5G'

The BBWF week at the Excel also hosted the 3GPP Project Coordination Group (PCG) & Organizational Partner (OP) meetings, at which the group officially decided that the 3GPP system will be known by the name “5G” from Release 15 onwards.

In addition to that formality, the OP also approved the applications of three new Market Representation Partners in 3GPP:

• Wireless Broadband Alliance
• Public Safety Communication Europe (PSCE) Forum
• 5G Infrastructure Association

For the Wireless Broadband Alliance, Bruno Tomas said "the Alliance’s new MRP position in 3GPP will strengthen the working relationship between both organizations and play a key role in bridging the technologies that operate in licensed and license-exempt frequency bands."

For the PSCE, David Lund presented the progress on some key initiatives for the Forum, aimed at improving broadband usability for the Public Protection and Disaster Relief community. On that theme, the 3GPP TSG SA Chair, Erik Guttman, welcomed such coordination - he said "National authorities have helped 3GPP to get started on Mission Critical requirements, but having improved international coordination will be helpful, allowing the sector to benefit together rather than by a country-by-country or industry-by-industry approach."

The third new Partner to be approved is the 5G-Infrastructure Association (5GIA), which comes out of the 5G-PPP research programme. Jean-Pierre Bienaimé, the newly elected Secretary-General of the 5GIA, said "As the system of systems enters its standardization phase, we will bring in project output from Horizon 2020 - The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation." He told the PCG that the 5GIA is aligned to the 3GPP roadmap for 5G.

Erik Guttman and Dino Flore talk to light reading at BBWF, about 5G, New Radio and LTE work from 3GPP	Signing - Wireless Broadband Alliance
Speaking - Public Safety Communication Europe (PSCE) Forum (See the PSCE signing photo here)	Signing - 5G-Infrastructure Association

Further Reading:

See the Partners page of the 3GPP web site, for the full list of Market Representation Partners 

Contact for this article: Kevin FLYNN, Marketing and Communications Officer, 3GPP