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NGMN Alliance Achieves Major Milestone to Open Radio Equipment Interface

Frankfurt, Germany and London, UK February 16th 2010 – The Board of the NGMN Alliance has endorsed the proposal to seek establishment of an ETSI Industry Specification Group (ISG) – Open Radio Equipment Interface (ORI) to further develop and maintain the specifications for open interfaces between Remote Equipment Control (REC)(1*) and Radio Equipment (RE)(2*). These specifications will be built on the implementation recommendations that have already been developed within the NGMN Alliance. Objective of the open interface specifications for radio equipment will be to ensure more economical and efficient deployment of base stations and will also consider ecological aspects when renewing a system in the next generation mobile network. An open interface between REC-RE will enable the possibility to connect and operate equipment from different vendor origin.

An NGMN project team of leading operators and vendors has worked towards the successful development of the open interface implementation recommendations. This ensures a smooth transition towards the ETSI ISG and a successful future maintenance within this group.

A scope document for the ISG is being developed by the NGMN project team with the objective to develop an interface specification. This specification will cover those layers of the OSI stack required to enable interoperability, and may refer to appropriate public available specifications.

Already seven international mobile network operators and nine leading telecom vendors have indicated to support the ISG as initial founding members.
“The Board of the NGMN Alliance highly appreciates the broad vendor commitment and support for the activities to drive the open interface specifications,” said Dr. Peter Meissner, Operating Officer of the NGMN Alliance. “We do expect from the open interface implementation significant improvements in terms of efficiency and cost savings that will benefit the whole industry. The agreement to establish the ETSI ISG is a major step towards the successful interface specification, and demonstrates the alignment of key industry players.”

“ETSI welcomes the decision by the NGMN Alliance to use the ISG-model and is excited by the opportunity to work together on a subject of very high future importance for the mobile industry. The ETSI Industry Specification Group is an innovative and flexible type of standards group, and the NGMN Alliance decision clearly demonstrates that it is adapted to meet evolving industry needs.”, said Dr. Walter Weigel, ETSI Director General.

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(1*) Also known as BaseBandUnits (BBUs)

(2*) Also known as RemoteRadioHeads (RRHs)

About NGMN Alliance (www.ngmn.org)

The NGMN Alliance (www.ngmn.org) is an open group of the world-leading operators, technology vendors and research institutes. The primary objective is to create a virtuous cycle of innovation, investment, and adoption of true mobile broadband services with attractive cost-performance ratios. About 60 partners have committed to this objective and are developing requirements to shape the evolution of the mobile ecosystem. In 2010, the focus will be on operational efficiency, co-ordination of trials and tests, device availability, roaming, and assessment of IMT-Advanced technologies. Achievements and future roadmap will be presented at MWC 2010 and NGMN’s Industry Conference in Shanghai, June 2010.

Media Relations Contact NGMN

Natacha Schubert

NGMN Ltd. · Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 58

60325 Frankfurt am Main · Germany

Phone: +49 69/9074998-20

E-mail: press(at)ngmn.org

NGMN Press Release Open Radio Equipment Interface