EP CTM

Cordless Terminal Mobility

The primary objective of EP-CTM was to oversee the establishment and the progress of work items related to the definition and implementation of standards for Cordless Terminal Mobility (CTM) in a number of ETSI Technical Bodies. The work areas that were identified, and are included in Phases 1, 2, and 2+, are considered sufficient to provide the basis for an attractive set of CTM product and service offerings. Having overseen the creation and progress of the CTM work items to a point where only a minimum of co-ordination work was required, it was appropriate to review the role of EP-CTM.

It was always envisaged that the role of EP-CTM would need to be reviewed when the UMTS standardisation commenced. In addition, the report of the ETSI Ad Hoc Group on Fixed/Mobile Convergence (FMC) showed how it is possible to combine fixed, cordless and cellular access, via private and public core networks within a consistent model. That model has now been included in the determined ITU-T Recommendation Q.1701 as an integral part of the framework for IMT2000. That model indicates how an harmonised set of interfaces and protocols can be used to provide access to a consistent set of (VHE) services that are independent of the access and core networks. Furthermore, it is felt that the regulatory uncertainty, that has handicapped the exploitation of the CTM standards, is likely to change as the pressures increase, from both fixed and mobile network operators, to be able to provide a comprehensive portfolio of fixed and mobile services. As a result, it was appropriate to consider any further CTM developments in the context of UMTS and FMC.

During the period that the future role of EP-CTM was being considered, ETSI was successful in creating the Third Generation Partnership Project 3GPP with T1-P1 (USA), ARIB and TTC (Japan) and TTA (Korea). 3GPP is responsible for producing a set of technical specifications for the UMTS System. That UMTS system is expected to include fixed and cordless applications. In addition to the creation of 3GPP, ETSI has also created EP-UMTS to deal with those UMTS Standardization issues that are outside the scope of 3GPP.

Following discussions in the ETSI Board, GMM CG, OCG6 and finally OCG7, it was agreed that, given the 3GPP and EP-UMTS projects, it would not be appropriate to revise the role of EP-CTM to include the fixed and cordless access and private network elements of UMTS. It was, therefore agreed to close EP-CTM. This leaves any remaining co-ordination activities to take place directly between the technical bodies responsible for the remaining implementation.