3GPP

3rd Generation Partnership Project
Abbreviation3GPP
Formation1998 (1998)
TypeStandards organization
Region served
Worldwide
Websitewww.3gpp.org

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is an umbrella term for a number of standards organizations which develop protocols for mobile telecommunications. Its best known work is the development and maintenance of:

3GPP is a partnership project whose partners are its Organizational Partners (OPs), which are seven national or regional telecommunication standards organizations, and its Market Representation Partners (MRPs), which are a variety of other organizations. 3GPP organizes its work into three different streams: Radio Access Networks (TSG RAN), Services and Systems Aspects (TSG SA), and Core Network and Terminals (TSG CT).

The project was established in December 1998 with the goal of developing a specification for a 3G mobile phone system based on the 2G GSM system, within the scope of the International Telecommunication Union's International Mobile Telecommunications-2000, hence the name 3GPP. It should not be confused with now discontinued 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), which shadowed the 3GPP work to continue the development of a competing 3G system, CDMA2000.

The 3GPP administrative support team (known as the "Mobile Competence Centre") is located at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute headquarters in the Sophia Antipolis technology park in France.