UMTS Forum and industry initiatives

UMTS is far more than just another mobile wireless standard. It is being developed at a time when competition and liberalisation policies are encouraging market convergence between previously diverse industry sectors. In order to maintain the impetus and direction in the collaborative technical standardisation of UMTS, it has also been found necessary to consider the commercial aspects of UMTS as well as the position of UMTS in relation to existing standards and the emerging information society. This presentation reviews the processes which led to the formation of the UMTS Forum and the UK´s Third Generation Advisory Group in 1996. The achievements and the future work of these two industry-based bodies are summarised as a means of giving an insight to their scope of activities, and the way in that market interests can be harnessed to aid development of regulatory and licensing policies