October 20, 2010 - 3GPP Press Release

The 3GPP candidate technology submission for IMT-Advanced developed as LTE Release 10 & Beyond (LTE-Advanced) was today accepted as a 4G technology at the Chongqing meeting of ITU-R Working Party 5D, having successfully completed Steps 4 through 7 of the IMT-Advanced process in ITU-R, complying with or exceeding the ITU established criteria in all aspects.

The positive assessment of the 3GPP LTE technology by the many IMT evaluation groups across the world, now confirmed by the ITU, reinforces the global preeminence of the work of 3GPP which unites the leading mobile technology companies in developing market oriented high performance broadband mobile wireless systems. Final ratification of the full IMT-Advanced technology family will occur at the ITU-R Study Group 5 meeting in November 2010.

The 3GPP submission was made jointly in the name of the Partnerships' Organizational Partners: ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TTA and TTC, which represent the North American, European and Asian regions and make 3GPP a truly global initiative. In the final steps of the ITU-R IMT-Advanced process, 3GPP in conjunction with its Organizational Partners will provide the detailed technical specifications and standards to the ITU-R by 2011, for inclusion in the Recommendation ITU-R M. [RSPEC].

The successful candidature of 3GPP LTE as an IMT-Advanced (4G) solution builds upon 3GPP's multi-year continuing success story. By offering a full suite of integrated 3G and 4G ecosystems for IMT-2000 and now IMT-Advanced, the 3GPP technology family supports the evolving and expanding needs of the broad international base of mobile operators and allows the users of wireless mobile broadband to experience, on a global basis, a rich and innovative range of service and capabilities that is unparalleled by any other technology.

Source: 3GPP