Why do Standards Matter?

When you make a phone call you expect to be able to talk to anyone in the world, or when browsing the Internet, view any website no matter where it’s located. In reality, this assumes that all the networks run by a diverse range of network operators around the world seamlessly interconnect with each other. This, which itself is a major technical achievement, was the initial driver for the first meeting of the International Telegraph Union (now the ITU) when they met in Paris in 1865 to set out the first standards. Standards support interoperability between networks in different countries, as well as interconnection between networks in the same country, allowing customers a competitive choice between services from different operators.

Consumers expect any smartphone to work with any mobile network operator, and  be able to use that smartphone anywhere in the world, even when their home network operator has no presence in that location. This requires a very exacting set of standards for the interface between the smartphone and the mobile network (normally called the ‘air interface’). The phenomenal success of mobile since the 1990s is not an accident. In the late 1980s, all the major European players along with the European Commission decided to create this standard (along with other essential standards). The European standards body, ETSI, was formed at this time with a primary objective to develop these standards and has since evolved to become a global standards project called 3GPP.  And in this way, a successful standard effectively created an industry.

Network operators may wish to choose equipment from different suppliers, creating a need for interconnection between equipment from different suppliers. Each network operator will also require many different types of equipment and software components, creating an even greater number of interfaces that need to seamlessly operate together. Standards allow for the interconnection of different components from different suppliers even within one network operator’s network. They also allow for upgrading and replacement of parts of the network without impacting overall operation of the system.

When the architecture of a telecoms network is broken down into well standardised components, suppliers can specialise on specific components with a reasonable certainty that the market for those components is stable and enduring. As a result, they can gear up to high volume production and dramatically reduced unit costs. For example, the Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) initiatives allow the detailed network functionality to be defined in software while the hardware supporting the functions can be high-volume, low-cost equipment such as data centre servers and data centre packet switches. 

When you buy a smartphone, you will find in the box a statement of the safety standards the device complies with. These safety standards are a legal requirement covered by UK legislation. The power adapter will meet a wide range of electrical safety standards and  is normally indicated by the British Standards Institute ‘Kite Mark’ or the ‘CE’ of the European standards bodies CEN and CENELEC. The smartphone itself will meet ‘non-ionising radiation’ standards which ensure the radio signals are all at a safe level. More generally, there are safety standards which cover all network equipment, for example covering the electrical powering, optical power of lasers, and electromagnetic interference.

Security is an increasingly important and complex area of standards. For many decades there have been technical standards which allow national security agencies to have ‘lawful intercept’ alongside  statutory legal control as to how they are used. The use of Internet protocols, frequently with strong end-end encryption for all services including voice calls, makes this more complex. Alongside this is the possibility that networks can be ‘hacked’, with the ever-growing complexity of network technology and the increasing use of software components greatly increasing what is called the ‘attack surface’. Security standards are now both a wide-ranging set of technical requirements and specifications as well as a set of good practice, design rules, and operational procedures.

Many countries and regions, including the UK and the EU, can enforce the use of technical standards to facilitate and promote competition. As with safety, these standards carry the force of law. In the UK, NICC sets these standards, many of which are intended to allow network operators access to Openreach’s network. This derives directly from the regulation of BT as having ‘significant market power’ in certain key markets in the UK. While at a European level, the EU Commission recently decided to enforce the use of USB C as the charging interface on all portable devices. 

There are some resources which cannot be expanded - such as radio spectrum - or are so expensive to create, it is unrealistic to expect more than one instance to be economically sustainable, for example, the ducts and poles outside the dense urban areas that support telecoms cables to homes and businesses. In these cases, governments may take direct control of the allocation of the resources. In the case of spectrum, the government, through Ofcom, auctions spectrum licences to network operators. For duct and poles, Ofcom has defined a service where Openreach must supply to network operators at a specified price. In both cases, there are detailed technical specifications associated with this controlled allocation of scarce resources. Such specifications may be based on options within existing standards, or go beyond them.