scope:

The objective of this technical report is to identify the full set of requirements for bandwidth and resource savings and improved speech quality, with specific consideration to networks supporting A/Gb mode and the bearer independent circuit-switched core network (BICN). The different architectural solutions to meet these requirements will be assessed.

Consideration shall be made to existing architectures and solutions to provide harmony between 2G nodes, UMTS nodes and external networks (PSTN/ISDN). Backward compatibility to existing solutions and ease of network introduction/upgrade shall be given high importance.