Tài liệu GSM and UMTS (P3) ppt

Chapter 3: The Detailed

Specification Work Leading to

the GSM Phase 1 Standard used

for the Opening of Service

(1987–1991)

Thomas Haug1

Mid-1987 was a milestone in the work of GSM. I think everybody in the group felt, despite

what they might have felt earlier, that the agreement on the basic parameters in the air

interface marked the turning point in the work. Another very important event took place in

1987 after years of preparations, i.e. the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by –

initially – 14 operators who made a firm commitment to implement the system by 1991. This

is described by Stephen Temple (Chapter 2, section 4), and I shall not go into it here. Suffice it

to say that without a commitment on the part of the operators along those lines, there would

hardly ever have been a GSM system in the real world, only on paper, simply because the

manufacturers would never have dared to invest the huge sums in hard- and software work

required to implement the system. The first set of specifications (or ‘‘Recommendations’’ as

we used to call them at that time, keeping in line with the ITU and CEPT terminology) used

for tendering is seen in the document GSM 31/88 in the acompanying CD-ROM. Another

example of our intention to make the work better known was the Hagen seminar in October

1988 as seen in the documents GSM 187/87 and GSM 120/88. This activity is covered in

Philippe Dupuis’s chapter and I need not go into details here.

One change in the work rules of CEPT was very beneficial to GSM. Originally, CEPT

had always worked as a very closed organisation, not open to outside bodies, and its results

were not made public (although they often leaked out). Therefore, many CEPT standards

were known to the manufacturers only if a PTT wanted to use a particular standard in

connection with a contract for delivery of equipment, and usually they had very little

influence in the preparation of standards. In December 1986, however, the UK representa￾tive (Stephen Temple, DTI) proposed to CCH that in the future, each delegation to CEPT

working groups could bring along up to two representatives of their national manufacturing

industry as technical advisors. The argument presented was that the situation had changed

1 The views expressed in this section are those of the autor and do not necessarily reflect the views of his affiliation

entity.

GSM and UMTS: The Creation of Global Mobile Communication

Edited by Friedhelm Hillebrand

Copyright q 2001 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

ISBNs: 0-470-84322-5 (Hardback); 0-470-845546 (Electronic)