SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, France—Mobile telecommunications industry executives paid tribute this week to Akio Sasaki, chairman of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Project Coordination Group following his October 5 death, a result of a stroke he suffered in July.
Sasaki, who was 55, was managing director of the Japanese Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB) since 1999, and his chairman position with 3GPP followed a stint as vice-chairman of the group. Before joining 3GPP he did research on next-generation systems for NTT DoCoMo.
At the UMTS2001 conference and exhibition, colleagues acknowledged Sasaki’s contributions to the specification of 3G systems and signed a book of condolences for his family.
