The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations, known as the Organizational Partners. The initial scope of 3GPP was to make a globally applicable third-generation (3G) mobile phone system specification based on evolved Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) specifications within the scope of the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 project of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The scope was later enlarged to include the development and maintenance of:

• GSM and related "2G" and "2.5G" standards including GPRS and EDGE
• UMTS and related "3G" standards including HSPA
• LTE and related "4G" standards
• An evolved IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) developed in an access independent manner