Rel-17 a Priority as F2F time proves elusive

September 22, 2021

The September Technical Specification Group (TSG) e-meetings (#93-e) have agreed that the freeze date for the Release-17 set of features will remain the major focus in the working groups until the end of the first quarter of 2022.

Release 18 will soon come under the spotlight, with agreement due on its ‘Package Approval’ (Approval of Rel-18 content) in December (TSG#94-e). However, apart from that prioritization process, the TSG#93-e meetings have agreed that the start of full-on Release 18 work can only begin once Release 17 has reached its functional freeze date – the date from which only essential corrections to the specifications are permitted - in March 2022.

With the Release 18 work ramping up from Q2 2022 onwards, a clear timeline is approved for a functional freeze date of the first 5G-Advanced release, in December 2023. 

Lifetime achiever gets his Award

September 17, 2021

Stephen Hayes has been granted the 3GPP Lifetime Achievement Award, nominated by his peers and approved by the Project Coordination Group (3GPP PCG), the leadership group in the project.

The award serves not only as recognition of Stephen Hayes’ contribution to 3GPP, but it is also a tribute to his natural empathy and ability to motivate his colleagues towards the fulfilment of common goals.

Stephen has been an unwavering contributor to issues in the Core Network, Systems and Architecture as well as the Radio Access Network area. Much of the time has been spent in leadership positions in 3GPP, such as TSG CN Chair, the TSG SA Chair (for three terms) and the TSG RAN Vice-Chair positions. During all this time he conducted meetings with great fairness and with the focus on finding common ground, often when the experts involved had opposing views.

During yesterday’s Joint TSG CT, RAN and SA plenary session, Stephen Hayes accepted the award with a few words to the 500+ delegates attending the on-line presentation: