3GPP
Third Generation Partnership Project

The 3GPP was formed in December 1998 as a collaboration agreement bringing together a number of telecommunication standards bodies. These standards bodies are referred to as Organizational Partners. The original aim of the 3GPP was to produce globally applicable technical specifications for third generation mobile systems based on evolved GSM core networks and the radio access technology UTRA (Universal Terrestrial Radio Access). This was subsequently amended to include the maintenance and development of the GSM standards including GPRS and EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution). Further network developments attributed to the 3GPP included evolution of service management through IMS , increased data rates in the UTRA via HSPA+ and most recently, the work associated with LTE, LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro.