ETSI

European Telecommunications Standards Institute
Company type	Public
Industry	Standardization organization
Founded	1988; 36 years ago
Headquarters	Sophia-Antipolis, France
Subsidiaries	Telecoms & Internet converged Services & Protocols for Advanced Networks
Website	www.etsi.org

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the field of information and communications. ETSI supports the development and testing of global technical standards for ICT-enabled systems, applications and services.^[1]

Overview and history

ETSI was set up in 1988 by the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) following a proposal from the European Commission.^[2] ETSI is the officially recognized body with a responsibility for the standardization of information and communication technologies (ICT). It is one of the three bodies officially recognized by the European Union as a European Standards Organisation (ESO), the others being CEN and CENELEC. The role of the ESOs is to support EU regulation and policies through the production of harmonised European Standards (ENs) and other deliverables. The standards developed by ESOs are the only ones that can be recognized as ENs.

ETSI develops standards in key global technologies such as: GSM, TETRA, 3G, 4G, 5G, DECT.

ETSI’s standardization activities are organized around sectors: Home & Office, Better Living with ICT, Content Delivery, Networks, Wireless Systems, Transportation, Connecting Things, Interoperability, Public Safety and Security. Technical activities are carried out in the different ETSI technical groups (Technical Committee (TC), ETSI Project (EP), ETSI Partnership Project (EPP), Industry Specification Group (ISG), and Special Committee (SC).

The organisation is located in Sophia-Antipolis, in the south of France.^[3]

In October 2023, ETSI reported a data breach. Hackers stole a database containing information on ETSI’s online users.^[4]^[5]

Membership

ETSI has more than 900 member organizations worldwide from 65 countries and five continents. Its community is diverse and includes all the key stakeholders of the ICT sector: private companies, research entities, academia, government and public bodies as well as societal stakeholders. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Micro-Enterprises (MEs) represent more than a quarter of ETSI's total membership. The list of current members can be found on the ETSI website.

Membership contributions are calculated depending on the type of membership. Members' and associate members' contributions are calculated by class which is derived from the member company's annual ECRT band.^[6]

Partnerships

ETSI works in close co-operation with the European Commission (EC) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). ETSI is a European Standardization Organization (ESO) and as such provides standards and specifications to support European Union (EU) legislation and public policies. ETSI also works with European country's national standards bodies or National Standards Organizations (NSO).

NSOs are responsible for the transposition of European Standards (ENs) into national standards and for the withdrawal of any conflicting national standard.

Education about standardization

ETSI has developed a comprehensive suite of educational materials on ICT standardization in collaboration with the EC and EFTA. It includes a comprehensive textbook, “Understanding ICT Standardization: Principles and Practice”, and an extensive set of over 380 slides to be used as teaching aides.

The teaching materials are targeted at third-level education, primarily for students of engineering or scientific subjects.