ACCF Looks Back on Successful Australia Summit on Mission Critical Standards

On the 17th of September Government Ministries, Regulators and the Critical Communications industry gathered at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre to hear presentations from the 3GPP, ETSI and TCCA leadership covering some of the major topics worked in Melbourne during the 3GPP Plenary meetings (TSGs#105).

The event was organised through the Australasian Critical Communications Forum (ACCF, chapter of the TCCA.

Topics ranged from latest 3GPP release timelines and key drivers for 6G. That consensus building outside of 3GPP can help 3GPP to focus clearly on support priorities for the next releases including many with direct impact on the Critical Communications sector. The message given by 3GPP and ETSI executives to the Australia workshop participants was that now is the right time to engage with 3GPP for standards, interoperability testing and technical conferences expanding scope into new ICT areas, including AI, Data, Quantum Computing, Sustainability and Cybersecurity.

Kevin Graham, TCCA CEO highlighted the need for finding consensus on the prioritization of features. He called for actors to resist the temptation to go-it-alone, he said:

“Our industry needs to get involved at the standards level. If we want features for our space, we need to follow their progress through all stages of the 3GPP process.”