Trends in the organization of standardization in the mobile telecommunication domain

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to indicate some trends in the future organization of standardization in the mobile telecommunication domain. The paper classifies the current standardization activities in the mobile telecommunication domain according to type of organization and scope of work. From this classification some current trends are identified. The classification shows that the key areas of interest for "new standardization activities" are in mobile handsets and other peripheral parts of the infrastructure, while the core infrastructure is handled by the formal standardization organizations. The standardization dynamics is larger the further you come from the core parts of the mobile telecommunication infrastructure. From the current trends the paper makes a trajectory towards NGN standardization and predicts that the formal organizations still will be in charge of the core infrastructure, the access network will see a standards war battle, consortia will develop the services but they will be geographically dispersed, and the functionality of the handset will be standardized according to an ex-post market scenario.