The process for the annual 3GPP Excellence Awards was completed with the presentation of the traditional totems during the February Working Group meetings.

The TSG RAN groups were meeting in Gotenborg, while the majority of TSG CT and TSG SA groups were in Goa for the week, with WG SA6 alone meeting in La Ciotat.

Here are details of the four Award winners for the year 2025.

Eko Onggosanusi, WG RAN1, Samsung

In Gotenborg, Sweden, the RAN1 Chair - Xiaodong Xu – presented the award to Eko Onggosanusi, Samsung, for his work as Rapporteur for the latest phase of the NR MIMO work – a role that has grown through his achievements as MIMO Rapporteur for the past 10 years.

His skill in moderating RAN1 discussions is also recognised. These topics include Channel State Information (CSI) codebooks (low and high-resolution), open-loop-based MIMO transmission, reference signals (CSI-RS, SRS), efficient RS triggering, coherent multi-TRP (CSI and calibration), CSI for high-speed scenarios, and streamlining NR beam management for FR2 with the unified TCI framework. Xiaodong Xu noted that “Eko Onggosanusi’s contribution encompasses virtually all critical physical-layer aspects pertaining to multi-antenna – MIMO - operation, leading to this recognition award. He also has a warmth of character and a sense of comradeship through even the toughest debates – Helping to make RAN1 a better place.”

Over to Goa, where the Working Groups of TSG SA and TSG CT were meeting, from February 9-13.

Sung Won, WG CT1, Nokia

Lena Chaponniere, CT1 Chair hailed the contribution that Sung Won, Nokia has made in 2025. As well as being one of the most active delegates on Mission Critical services, IMS maintenance, Cellular IoT, network slicing and NAS maintenance - He was also Rapporteur for the (Rel-19) Work Item on CT aspects of railways specific enhancements to mission critical services (FRMCS_Ph5) and for the IMS Stage-3 IETF Protocol Alignment (IMSProtoc19) WID.

Lena Chaponniere said, “Sung’s work and leadership in CT1 was instrumental in completing Rel-19 on schedule, and the Rel-19 code freeze in December 2025 coincides with this nomination. Sung has done an impeccable job of chairing the IMS and Mission Critical breakout sessions in CT1, handling all the documents in a timely and error free manner, with professionalism and fairness at all times - driving contentious issues to consensus.”

Jan Reimes, WG SA4, HEAD Acoustics

The next award was presented by Gilles Teniou, SA4 Chair, to Jan Reimes, HEAD Acoustics GmbH, for a year where his work as the Rapporteur of Rel-19 Terminal Audio quality performance and Test methods for Immersive Audio Services, Phase 2 (ATIAS_Ph2) and the authoring source of the Global Analysis Labs (GAL) report of the IVAS codec has cemented him as a key contributor in SA4.

Gilles Teniou said “As well as your outstanding leadership in driving ATIAS_Ph2 to completion, your contributions have shaped the test methods that now underpin how immersive audio performance is evaluated across the industry. This achievement is  strengthening the foundations for reliable, interoperable immersive experiences in future 3GPP devices and services. Congratulations!”

Arne Marquordt, WG CT6, Comprion

At the CT6 meeting in La Ciotat this week, a group stalwart was honoured for his work in 2025. It has been a busy year for Arne Marquordt, Comprion GmbH, as Rapporteur of multiple test specifications and test related work items in the group.

Heiko Kruse, CT6 Chair, commented that 2025 was the right year to recognise Arne’s exceptional achievements, as Rapporteur and contributor, including new versions of TS 31.121 - UICC-terminal interface; USIM application test specification - and TS 31.124 - Universal Subscriber Identity Module Application Toolkit (USAT) - as well as brand new test specifications for the non-removable UICC (TS 31.117 and TS 31.127) all progressing significantly in the year. This award is long due recognition for Arne’s performance in WG CT6.

Congratulation to our four award winners for 2025.

The Excellence Award roll of honour will be updated with the 2025 awardees very soon.