Wireline Narrowband Access

 
 
 
 

Narrowband includes the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).

Before 1988 there were many national specifications for narrow-band wireline access to the network. In 2003 a stable and widely harmonized set of standards became available.

In spite of the emergence of many new broadband technologies, the use of narrow-band access is still increasing.

ETSI has recently merged two committees to form technical committee Access, Terminals, Transmission and Multiplexing (ATTM). This committee is responsible for the standards for wireline narrowband access.

ISDN/PSTN digital interface

For terminals using Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), basic rate access TBR 03 is the base standard. For simple voice terminals operating over ISDN, TBR 08 is the base standard.

POTS/PSTN analogue interface

ETSI Standard ES 203 021 specifies the basic attachment requirements for terminals connected to the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) and the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). This standard updates Technical Basis for Regulation TBR 021.

For simple voice terminals, the technical content of TBR 038 remains basically valid. ETSI Standard ES 201 970 provides a harmonized specification of physical and electrical characteristics at the PSTN interface.

ETSI Guide EG 201 730 provides guidelines for the publication of interface specifications as required by the European R&TTE Directive (1999/5/EC).

Enhanced features for PSTN over the analogue interface

Enhanced features include display services, the short message service (SMS) and the multimedia messaging service (MMS) delivered over the fixed analogue access network.

Display services

The multi-part ETSI Standard ES 200 778 defines the protocols for display and related services at terminals. The multi-part European Standard EN 300 659 specified the protocols at the Local Exchange for subscriber line display services.

SMS and MMS

The multi-part ETSI Standard ES 201 912 defines the short message service (SMS) link between the SMS service centre and the terminal.

The multi-part ETSI Standard ES 202 314 specifies the fixed network multimedia messaging service (MMS).

The following is a list of recently published and frequently downloaded standards. Please use the ETSI Work Programme to find further related standards.

Standard No. Standard title
ES 203 021 parts 1-3Harmonized basic attachment requirements for Terminals for connection to analogue interfaces of the Telephone Networks; Update of the technical contents of TBR 021, EN 301 437, TBR 015, TBR 017;
ES 201 970Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN); Harmonized specification of physical and electrical characteristics at a 2-wire analogue presented Network Termination Point (NTP)
EG 201 730 parts 1-4Terminals' access to Public Telecommunications Networks; Application of the Directive 1999/5/EC (R&TTE), article 4.2;Guidelines for the publication of interface specifications
ES 200 778 parts 1-5Analogue access to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN); Protocol over the local loop for display and related services; Terminal equipment requirements
EN 300 659 parts 1-3Analogue access to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN); Subscriber line protocol over the local loop for display (and related) services
ES 202 912 seriesShort Message Service (SMS) for PSTN/ISDN; Test Suites for SMS User Based Solution
ES 202 314 seriesFixed network Multimedia Messaging Service (F-MMS); PSTN/ISDN