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History

Once Upon a Time…

ETSI was set up in 1988 by the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) in response to proposals from the European Commission.

There have been many significant events and achievements since ETSI was created – and many of them have had a global impact.

 

Mobile Standards – Why ETSI?

Below some landmarks in our history.

Down Arrow1986–1990: Founding and Early Milestones

1986 to 1987

  • 1986: The European Commission (EC) leads a fact-finding mission on telecommunications to the US
  • 1987: The EC publishes a Green Paper which first floated the idea of a European Telecommunications Standards Institute
  • 1987: The Directors-General of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) take a decision in principle to found ETSI
  • 1987: GSM Memorandum of Understanding signed
Main entrance of ETSI headquarters building

1988

  • January 1988: Creation of ETSI
  • March 1988: First ETSI General Assembly
  • April 1988: The first stone of ETSI’s new purpose-built headquarters laid
  • May 1988: Professor Diodato Gagliardi appointed as Director-General of ETSI (1988 to 1990)
  • Mid-1988: Secretariat begins work
  • July 1988: First ETSI Technical Assembly
  • 1988: First GSM specs ready for implementation

1989 to 1990

  • 1989: GSM committee transferred from CEPT to ETSI
  • 1990: Election of Karl-Heinz Rosenbrock as Director-General (1990 to 2006)
  • 1990: ETSI, CEN and CENELEC sign joint co-operation agreement
  • 1990: ETSI establishes Joint Technical Committee with the European Broadcasting Union to produce broadcast-related standards (CENELEC joined in 1995)
  • 1990: Global Standards Collaboration process launched, to enhance co-operation between standards organisations around the world

Down Arrow1992-2000: Growth and Digital transformation

1992 - 1995

  • 1992: ETSI introduces distribution of standards documents to National Standards Organisations via satellite
  • 1992: ETSI officially confirmed as a European Standards Organisation under directive 83/189/EEC
  • 1993: ETSI establishes its Intellectual Property Rights policy
  • 1994: Directive 94/10/EC (amending 83/189/EC), ETSI officially recognised as a European Standards Organisation
  • 1995: ETSI publishes the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) standard for use by emergency services and others
  • 1995: Number of standards produced passes 1 000 mark

1996 - 1998

  • 1996: ETSI Board created to replace the Technical Assembly
  • 1997: ETSI starts to create European Standards (ENs), replacing European Telecommunications Standards (ETSs)
  • 1997: Creation of the ETSI PAS process that enables an ETSI partner to submit Publicly Available Specifications for adoption by ETSI
  • 1998: ETSI is a founding partner in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP™)

1999

  • The ETSI Bake-Off service (later to become Plugtests™) is created
  • ETSI introduces paperless meetings
  • ETSI makes all standards freely available on the web

2000

  • ETSI introduces Testing and Test Control Notation version 3 (TTCN-3), which has gone on to become a globally successful test specification language
  • Launch of ‘eEurope’ by the European Union – ETSI participates to provide standards for ‘An Information Society for All’
  • Number of standards produced passes 5 000 mark

Down Arrow2001-2009: Expansion and Technological Advances

2001 to 2002

  • 2001: The ETSI Bake-Off service is re-branded as ETSI Plugtests™
  • 2002: Number of standards produced passes 10 000 mark
  • 2002: First releases of UMTS ready for implementation

2006 to 2009

  • 2006: Election of Walter Weigel as Director-General (2006 to 2011)
  • 2006: Introduction of Industry Specification Groups (ISGs)
  • 2008: Number of standards produced passes 20 000 mark
  • 2009: First LTE Release completed

Down Arrow2011–2016: Cloud, IoT, and Institutional Recognition

2011 to 2013

  • 2011: Election of Luis Jorge Romero as Director-General (2011 to 2016 – 1st term of 5 years & 2016 to 2019 – prolongation until next election)
  • 2012: ETSI is a founding partner in the launch of the oneM2M partnership initiative for the global deployment of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications systems
  • 2012: ETSI launches Cloud Standards Co-ordination at request of the EC
  • 2012: Number of standards published passes 30 000 mark
  • 2013: Regulation 1025/2012 replaced Directive 98/34/EC. ETSI is officially confirmed as a European Standards Organisation, ETSI can be mandated by EC to produce standards and specifications to meet policy needs, esp. legislative needs (e.g. Harmonised Standards), ICT standardisation distinctly recognised, ETSI direct participation model recognised

2015 to 2016

  • 2015: oneM2M release 1 specifications published
  • 2016: oneM2M release 2 specifications published
  • 2016: Contract of Luis Jorge Romero as Director-General was extended to 2019 (until new election in 2019)

Down Arrow2017–2020: 5G and Pandemic Response

2017 to 2018

  • 2017: The Radio Equipment Directive (RED) completed its transition period supported by Harmonised Standards from ETSI
  • 2018: Launch of Zero touch network Service Management ISG (Industry Specification Group)
  • 2018: Launch of ETSI Brand Strategy and the new tagline “The Standards People”
  • 2018: Celebration of ETSI’s 30th anniversary
  • 2018: Release of standard on Pan-European Mobile Emergency
  • 2018: Number of standards published passes 40 000 mark

2019

  • Re-election of Luis Jorge Romero as Director-General (2019 to 2024)
  • First Releases of 5G ready for implementation
  • First consumer IoT cybersecurity standard released
  • Multi-Access Edge Computing Phase 2 specifications released
  • First live synchronised music performance enabled by Open Source MANO
  • OneM2M wins Top IoT Standards Body of the Year
  • New Industry Specification Group (ISG) launched on European Common information sharing environment service and Data Model
  • New Industry Specification Group (ISG) launched on Securing Artificial Intelligence

2020

  • Standard for ‘digital evidence bag’ used in legal proceedings
  • First White Paper on ICT standards to mitigate pandemic
  • First Virtual ETSI Security Week attracts more than 4,200 online views from participants in over 50 countries
  • DECT-2020 New Radio interface published
  • Standards for NG112 and Advanced Mobile Location
  • Launch of Europe for Privacy Preserving Pandemic Protection ISG (Industry Specification Group)
  • New Industry Specification Group on 5th Generation Fixed Network
  • New Industry Specification Group on Non-IP Networking

Down Arrow2021–Present: Future Technologies and Sustainability

2021

  • New Industry Specification Group on Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS)
  • ETSI DECT-2020 NR approved by ITU-R as first non-cellular 5G technology
  • “Designing Tomorrow’s World” – new ETSI strategy announced
  • Launch of MEC sandbox for edge app developers
  • First report on securing Artificial Intelligence
  • New Industry Specification Group on IPv6 Enhanced Innovation (IPE)

2022

  • New Industry Specification Group on Terahertz (ISG THz)
  • New open-source group TeraFlowSDN
  • New edition of ETSI education programme material
  • First O-RAN specification adopted by ETSI through the PAS process

2023

  • Software Development Group OpenCAPIF announced
  • Industry Standards Group on Securing AI becomes Technical Committee
  • World’s first Protection Profile for Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)
  • 23rd Global Standards Collaboration meeting hosted by ETSI in London
  • Summit on Sustainability: ICT Standards for a Greener World
  • Announcement of Software Development Groups
  • ENISA/CEN/CENELEC/ETSI Cybersecurity Standardisation Conference supporting EU legislative framework, Brussels

2024

  • ETSI-ITU Symposium on ICT Sustainability, Geneva
  • Guidelines to enhance cyber-security for consumer IoT devices announced
  • First release of SDG OpenCAPIF released in ETSI Labs
  • OpenSlice 2024 Q2 version announced
  • 10th ETSI/IQC Quantum-Safe Cryptography Conference, Singapore
  • ETSI members elect new Director-General Jan Ellsberger at 83rd General Assembly
  • ETSI, CEN, CENELEC and ENISA present 8th Cybersecurity Standardisation Conference
  • French National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) certifies ETSI Consumer Mobile Device Protection Profile
ETSI-history-2025

2025

  • Launch of Industry Specification Group for pre-standardisation of Multiple Access Techniques for 6G
  • Technical Committee launched on Data Solutions in support of the European Trusted Data Framework
  • Technical Committee launched on Quantum Technologies to develop specifications for quantum communications and quantum networks across multiple sectors
  • Launch of Software Development Group OpenOP, an Open-Source Operator Platform for 6G testbed federation
  • ETSI receives the Award of Excellence for Standardisation 2025 for AI testing
  • Launch of the Policy Affairs Department, strengthening collaboration with the European Commission and key partners in countries such as South Korea and Japan on connectivity and related technologies
  • ETSI works on QKD (Quantum Key Distribution) acknowledged in EC Quantum Europe Strategy
  • Draft Cyber Resilience Act standards sent for open public consultation, a new benchmark for inclusive standardisation
  • Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with European Communications Office (ECO)