3gpp specification numbering

After initial delivery in late 2017 of ‘Non-Stand-Alone’ (NSA) NR new radio specifications for 5G, much effort focused in 2018 on timely completion of 3GPP Release 15 – the first full set of 5G standards – and on work to pass the first milestones for the 3GPP submission towards IMT-2020.

The term “3GPP specification” covers all GSM (including GPRS and EDGE), W-CDMA (including HSPA), LTE (including LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro) and 5G specifications . Revised versions of many of these specifications are produced up to four times a year following the quarterly TSG plenary meetings.

3GPP is a collaborative activity between well-established regional standard organizations. The goal is to develop and maintain global technical specifications . This is to make sure that network equipment and handset manufacturers can develop products that are interoperable all over the world.