Allen,
<< ETSI governs WCDMA, mostly (there are other important players, like 3GPP). The only licensing requirement that ETSI places on its contributors is that they make their licenses available to all who want them on a fair basis - no selling to one manufacturer and not to another or charging one manufacturer more than another >>
ETSI no longer governs UMTS or UMTS UTRA (WCDMA) and in fact they never did, since the responsibility for evolving 3G UMTS requirements, specifications, and standards, has rested with 3GPP since 3GIG transferred the responsibility in December 1998.
ETSI is simply a Standards Development Organization (SDO) as are ARIB, CWTS, T1, TTA and TTC in 3GPP, and these 6 SDO's are the Organizational Partners of 3GPP.
In addition to Organizational Partners, 3GPP has individual members and Market Representation Partners which include,GSM Association (GSMA), Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), UMTS Forum, Universal Wireless Communications Consortium (UWCC), IPv6 Forum,
Multimedia Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF), and 3GIP Focus Group.
ETSI's role in the evolution of GSM, GPRS, EDGE, (as well as UMTS) standardization has changed rather dramatically in recent months. ETSI has transferred. GSM, GPRS, and GSM-EDGE standards development is now a 3GPP responsibility rather than an ETSI responsibility and TDMA-EDGE standards development is also a 3GPP responsibility.
ETSI retains responsibility only for those portions of UMTS that relates to European regulatory matters (UMTS European Project, or UMTS EP), and SIM, USIM, R-UIM, matters which are handled in SMG-9, because of their long standing familiarity with this subject matter.
Licensing matters have been transferred from ETSI (and the other SDO's) to 3GPP, and are worked out in conjunction with the ITU, the UMTS Intellectual Property Association (UMTS IPR working Group) and possibly, in the future, NEW CO.
It's all a little confusing as there is a lot of responsibility being transferred, but there is a FAQ on this subject here:
3gpp.org
Bottom Line: ETSI does NOT govern WCDMA, mostly.
UMTS, and the UTRA (W-CDMA) component (requirements, standards, developmnt, licensing, et al) are part of a global initiative coordinated primarily in 3GPP.
- Eric - |
