3GPP 3GPP Specification Release Numbers

3GPP has a defined set of releases for the new versions of the standards, each containing new functionality.

3GPP overview includes:
What is 3GPP Standards/ Releases 3GPP groups

The 3GPP standards undergo continual change. To ensure that there is an organised release of new functionality, new releases of the standards occur at planned times.

For the new 3GPP releases, there is a schedule of releases which contained set introductions of new functionality and this represents the work of the various Technical Specifications Groups and Working Groups.

The first 3GPP releases were termed Phase 1 and Phase 2. After this the releases were given the year of the anticipated releases, but after Release 99, they reverted to specific release numbers. Release 4 was also known as 3GPP Release 2000.

3GPP Release topics

3GPP Phase 1 reflected the first introduction of GSM. Work on GSM was the main focus through until Release 98.

3GPP Release 99 was the first release of the UMTS / WCDMA standard, and work on this proceeded with the introduction of HSDPA, the HSUPA to form HSPA.

3GPP Release 8 saw the first introduction of LTE and this was steadily updated with enhancements of LTE with LTE-A and improvements to many areas.

Moving on, 3GPP Release 14, Release 15, and Release 16 will include the 5G technologies. Initially 3GPP Release 14 will include elements that build towards 5G, the next two including the actual specifications for it.

3GPP Release schedule and summary

The table below gives the approximate dates and some of the salient features of the different 3GPP Releases for their standards.

3GPP Releases
3GPP Release	Release date	Details
Phase 1	1992	Basic GSM
Phase 2	1995	GSM features including EFR Codec
Release 96	Q1 1997	GSM Updates, 14.4 kbps user data
Release 97	Q1 1998	GSM additional features, GPRS
Release 98	Q1 1999	GSM additional features, GPRS for PCS 1900, AMR, EDGE
Release 99	Q1 2000	3G UMTS incorporating WCDMA radio access
Release 4	Q2 2001	UMTS all-IP Core Network
Release 5	Q1 2002	IMS and HSDPA
Release 6	Q4 2004	HSUPA, MBMS, IMS enhancements, Push to Talk over Cellular, operation with WLAN
Release 7	Q4 2007	Improvements in QoS & latency, VoIP, HSPA+, NFC integration, EDGE Evolution
Release 8	Q4 2008	Introduction of LTE, SAE, OFDMA, MIMO, Dual Cell HSDPA
Release 9	Q4 2009	WiMAX / LTE / UMTS interoperability, Dual Cell HSDPA with MIMO, Dual Cell HSUPA, LTE HeNB
Release 10	Q1 2011	LTE-Advanced, Backwards compatibility with Release 8 (LTE), Multi-Cell HSDPA
Release 11	Q3 2012	Heterogeneous networks (HetNet), Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP), In device Coexistence (IDC), Advanced IP interconnection of Services,
Release 12	March 2015	Enhanced Small Cells operation, Carrier Aggregation (2 uplink carriers, 3 downlink carriers, FDD/TDD carrier aggregation), MIMO (3D channel modelling, elevation beamforming, massive MIMO), MTC - UE Cat 0 introduced, D2D communication, eMBMS enhancements.
Release 13	Q1 2016	LTE-U / LTE-LAA, LTE-M, Elevation beamforming / Full Dimension MIMO, Indoor positioning, LTE-M Cat 1.4MHz & Cat 200kHz introduced
Release 14	Mid 2017	Elements on road to 5G
Release 15	End 2018	5G Phase 1 specification
Release 16	2020	5G Phase 2 specification
Release 17	~Sept 2021

It should be noted that each release updates all the 3GPP standards - even the GSM standards are being updated in the various 3GPP Releases.

The 3GPP standards and specifications cover all aspects of the cellular / mobile communications systems from the radio access network to the network, billing, authentication and much more.

Each 3GPP Release will update very many elements, many of which will not hit the headlines.