UMTS Forum is an open cross sector and independent organization founded on 16 December 1996
in
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, as a non-profit association under Swiss law with the aim to enhance the modular
3G/
UMTS
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
concept, which takes full regard of the trend of convergence of existing and future information
networks, devices and services, and the potential synergies that can be derived from such convergence.
Following successful global implementation of
UMTS
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
, focus changed to upgrades and evolution of
UMTS
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
. Currently mobile operators are implementing HSPA (
High Speed Packet Access
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunicat ...
), which will be followed by LTE (
Long Term Evolution
In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals, based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA standards. It improves on those standards' capacity and speed by usi ...
). This change is also reflected in activities of UMTS Forum.
UMTS Forum is very active in different standardization and regulation organizations like
ITU
The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
,
ETSI
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the field of information and communications. ETSI supports the development and testing of global technical standard ...
/
3GPP, EC and CEPT (
.
Steering Group
*
Jean-Pierre Bienaimé, Chairman
*
Thomas Sidenbladh, Vice Chairman
*
Guillaume Lebrun, Spectrum Aspects Group Chairman
*
Cengiz Evci, Chairman Manufacturers Group
*
Peter Zidar, Chairman Operators Group
*
Werner Wiedermann, Vice Chairman Operators Group
*
Adrian Scrase, ETSI Observer
References
UMTS ForumUMTS Forum's Steering Group
Organizations established in 1996
UMTS