European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)

The ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) was founded in 1988 by the CEPT (European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations) and approved by the EC (European Commission). Its headquarters are located in Sophia Antipolis, near Nice, France. Hungary has been a member since 1991, and the NHH/NMHH has been an independent member since 2005.

Full members of ETSI are CEPT member states, while associate and observer members are telecommunications administrations and companies from many other countries around the world (more than 60 countries, approximately 900 institutions and companies). In addition to the ministry responsible for telecommunications and the NMHH, approximately six companies from Hungary are full members.

The aim of ETSI is to develop globally applicable standards for systems, applications and services enabled by ICT (information and communication technologies) deployed in all areas of industry and society, and to this end it issues approximately 2,600 standards annually. Organizational and economic/budgetary issues are decided by the General Assembly, which operates on a shareholder basis, while professional work is carried out in working groups organized on a voluntary basis by experts from member organizations. NMHH experts participate in the work of several working groups (e.g., on numbering, M2M, and emergency communications), and for many years, NMHH has represented Hungary at the ETSI General Assembly, which is held twice a year.