Korea and Britain agreed to closer cooperation for 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standardization, so they can build anti-disaster communication networks with success, which is a key project for both of the governments. The 3GPP is a standardization organization launched in 1998 to establish wireless communication standards like GSM, WCDMA, GPRS, and LTE.
The Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning said on Jan. 21 that it held a director-level meeting in London with its British counterpart to discuss the matter in detail. The British government is planning to replace its TETRA-based disaster prevention network with an LTE-based emergency service network from 2016 to 2020. At the meeting, both parties promised that they would work with each other to complete the establishment of the 3GPP Rel. 13 international standard as scheduled before March next year and keep sharing their data and information to this end.
Also, they are going to provide assistance for each other at the 3GPP Mission Critical Push to Talk (MCPTT) chair election scheduled for next month, while the British government is supporting Korea’s attraction of the 3GPP MCPTT meeting in July. Great Britain is planning to put up a candidate for the election via the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP), and Korea is looking to nominate an entrepreneur as a candidate.
“Our cooperation with Britain, one of the most advanced countries in emergency service network standardization, will be a boon for our efforts,” the ministry commented, adding, “We will continue to cooperate with other countries such as the U.S. that are working on LTE-based infrastructure.”