SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS, France-The European Telecommunications Standards Institute is using World Standards Day Oct. 14 to tout GSM technology, which is expected to reach its 1 billionth customer early in 2004, 10 years after the technology saw its first commercial launch.
ETSI said without several standards bodies behind the technology, GSM would not have been as successful as it is.
“With the almost universal acceptance of GSM as the digital system of choice-GSM represents 72 percent of the world’s digital communications market and 70 percent of the total wireless market-it would be hard to find a better example of a standardized solution that has won truly global adoption,” said ETSI. “With such a massive market, development and operational costs have been driven down to a level such that many even in the poorest parts of the world can afford to benefit from GSM.”
Each year on Oct. 14, members of the global standards organizations International Organization for Standardization, the International Electrotechnical Commission and International Telecommunication Union celebrate World Standards Day, paying tribute to the collaborative efforts of the thousands of experts worldwide who develop the voluntary technical agreements published as international standards.
