“What is the Backbone of Cellular?”

“What is the Backbone of Cellular?”
​

3GPP is two things.  An organization comprised of over 700 members and a standard for global cellular service.  Since 1998 a number of standards bodies and individual companies (now over 700) have joined together to forge standards that allow global cellular system compatibility, without which all the broadband services enjoyed today.  3GPP is the basis for all digital broadband and enables everything from smartphones and streaming TV to autonomous transportation and IoT.  Without this protocol and the people and organization behind its development and evolution, the world would be a mess of disparate systems that were unable to communicate and global communication would be impossible.  The standard has led to the evolution of cellular systems that have evolved to 5G and will continue to evolve with 6G standards already being worked on for deployment in 2029 or 2030.  

As noted the 3GPP specifications for 5G are key to the development and deployment of the technology and while there have been many issues between the organizations top two contributing countries, the US and China, all of the specifications have been developed jointly, bringing in as much commonality as is reasonably possible on a global basis.  Without those standards, the quick list below would not exist and 5G would likely be incompatible not only from country to country, but potentially between carriers in the same country.  It wouldn’t be can my smartphone receive sub6, mmWave 5G or both, but can it even understand what is being broadcast, which could be different from one location to another.

• In understanding the number of systems that depend on these standards, here are a few facts:
• There are 807 operators in 240 countries operating LTE networks or FWA (Fixed wireless access)
• There are 327 LTE-Advanced operators in 148 countries that have launched such networks
• There are only 5 countries considered ‘not spots’ where LTE service is not available (Central African Republic, Djibouti, Eritrea, Mauritania, and North Korea)
• There are 428 operators in 132 countries that are investing in 5G mobile or FWA
• There are 153 operators in 64 countries where 5G service (mobile or FWA) is available

5G Network Status - Source: GSA