Users Participation in IMT-2000 Standardization upon Phased Standards Strategy

This paper reviews the benefits of users participation in IMT-2000 standardization by the creation of users coalitions, focusing in particular on phased standards strategy necessary for the evolutionary approach from second generation to third generation systems. It first presents in detail the current status of IMT-2000 standardization progress occurring at each regional standard body including TIA of US, ETSI of Europe, TTA of Korea and ARIB of Japan. With this clear understanding of standardization situations worldwide, we may be able to come up with our standards strategies related to IPR issues and efficient standard-setting mechanism between manufacturers and service providers. In addition, this paper addresses the necessity for phased licensing of IMT-2000 service in order to avoid the high cost of new infrastructures and ensure an acceptable financial investment returns for existing cellular and PCS service providers. An author hopes that this paper can provide the adequate standardization directions of IMT-2000 to satisfy the varying regional and global market requirements.