3GPP2 is a collaboration between telecommunications associations to make a globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone system specification within the scope of the ITU's IMT-2000 project. In practice, 3GPP2 is the standardization group for CDMA2000, the set of 3G standards based on the earlier cdmaOne 2G CDMA technology.
The participating associations are ARIB/TTC (Japan), China Communications Standards Association, Telecommunications Industry Association (North America) and Telecommunications Technology Association (South Korea).
The agreement was established in December 1998.
Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) was a 3GPP2 project to develop a fourth-generation successor to CDMA2000. In November 2008, Qualcomm, UMB's lead sponsor, announced it was ending development of the technology, favoring LTE instead.
3GPP2 should not be confused with 3GPP; 3GPP is the standard body behind the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) that is the 3G upgrade to GSM networks, while 3GPP2 is the standard body behind the competing 3G standard CDMA2000 that is the 3G upgrade to cdmaOne networks used mostly in the United States (and to some extent also in Japan, China, Canada, South Korea and India).
GSM/GPRS/EDGE/W-CDMA is the most widespread wireless standard in the world. A few countries (such as China, the United States, Canada, India, South Korea and Japan) use both sets of standards, but most countries use only the GSM family.
