TCCA signs Market Representation Partner agreement with 3GPP
Partnership will strengthen work on enhancing LTE standards for critical communications users
Fukuoka, Japan, 31 October 2013 – The Director General of ETSI, Luis Jorge Romero, right, and Phil Kidner, CEO of the TETRA & Critical Communications Association (TCCA), with, from left, Byoung-Moon Chin, chair of the 3GPP Project Coordination Group, and Tony Gray, chair of the TCCA’s Critical Communications Broadband Group (CCBG), following the signing of the formal 3GPP partnership agreement that confirms the TCCA as the latest Market Representation Partner (MRP) in 3GPP. MRP status is given to organisations which have the ability to offer market advice to 3GPP and to bring a consensus view of market requirements such as services, features and functionality that fall within the 3GPP scope.
The CCBG is a Working Group of the TCCA, which represents organisations with an interest in the future of critical communications. With LTE services already being rolled out for consumer and business use, the standard will have a key role in the future in bringing broadband services to the critical communications sector. LTE also presents a unique opportunity as the potential single, harmonised, global standard for critical mobile broadband. However, as currently defined, the LTE standards do not deliver key features and functionality required by critical communications users.
Working together, the CCBG and other stakeholder groups around the world have already achieved agreement to develop specific critical communications features in future iterations of the LTE standard. With MRP status, the CCBG will continue to work closely with 3GPP to define and clarify user requirements and use cases for critical mobile broadband.
The CCBG aims to enable all mission critical and business critical users to access their information systems, intranet and internet at broadband speeds using their professional mobile devices wherever they are and whenever they have the need. This broadband capability should meet the specific needs of the user in the same way that critical voice and narrowband data services are currently delivered by current technologies such as TETRA, Tetrapol, P25, GSM-R and others.
About the CCBG
The CCBG works with other stakeholder groups worldwide to drive the standardisation of future common, global, mobile broadband technology solutions for critical communications users, and lobbies governments and regulators for appropriate, and as far as possible harmonised, spectrum for the deployment of future critical communications broadband networks. CCBG participants include user organisations, governments, operators, standards and regulatory bodies, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, consultants, and other organisations with an interest in the future of critical communications. All members and partner organisations of the TCCA are entitled to participate.
About the TCCA
The TCCA represents TETRA, the most successful mission critical communications voice and narrowband data mobile standard in the world. Now available with TETRA Enhanced Data Services (TEDS) supporting wideband data, we support the further development of the standard and promote its increasing adoption by professional users in a growing number of market sectors across all continents. For critical broadband data communications, we are driving the development of common global mobile standards and solutions for users who operate in a mission critical or business critical environment. Such users include Public Safety, Government entities, Military, Transport including airports, ports, rail and metro, Utilities, Oil and Gas, Extraction, sporting and leisure, and many others. For more information please visit www.tcca.info
About 3GPP
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) provides the telecommunications industry with Reports and Specifications that define 3GPP mobile systems, including GSM, GPRS, EDGE, W-CDMA, HSPA, LTE and LTE-Advanced accesses and the core network that supports them. 3GPP was created in December 1998 with the “The 3rd Generation Partnership Project Agreement”, which has been signed by the Organizational Partners – the six standards bodies from three regions – and by all 14 Market Representation Partners. For more information please visit www.3gpp.org
For further information please contact editor@tcca.info / + 44 (0) 77 66 33 32 77