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Paper short abstract:

Drawing upon recent work on standards, information infrastructures and technoscientific imaginaries, this paper examines the rise of the Global GSM standard, and examines the complex politics of governing mobile standards.

Paper long abstract:

"Mobile devices" describes a dynamic category of technological artifacts. From the iPhone to internet-enabled medical devices that are capable of sending data packets over LTE networks, this particular category of devices is readily proliferating. If one accepts the prediction of technologists, the internet-of-things will encompass 20 billion "things" by 2020. These 20 billion smartwatches, bridges, refrigerators, homes, sensors and phones will communicate via mobile infrastructures whose structure, rules, permissions and restrictions are currently being designed by technocratic Telecommunications Standards making bodies that are far from the purview of traditional processes of democratic engagement. What is the socio-cultural history of these telecommunication standards and how did they achieve global consensus? Where are the politics of Mobile standards development, and what are the forms and shape of its governance mechanisms? What are the roles of the State, the Market, transnational firms and regular citizens in the development of these standards? Drawing upon recent work in STS on technological standards, the governance of information infrastructures and the idea of the technoscientific imaginary, this paper examines the history of the GSM standard, its birth within the nascent European Union, its acceptance as a global standard, and examines the complex politics of governing mobile standards.