Stop in for a cup of coffee
3GPP develops the "Standards" internationally. These are consensus based determinations from major carriers, equipment manufacturers and governments. When an entourage of 50 Chinese engineers rolls into a committee meeting to decide on how a standard should be built, kinda tough for the 4 people from the U.S. (or other countries) to compete with that. It's an interesting methodology not dissimilar to most international telecommunications bodies. Individual providers pull from the standards "stack" for implementation into their networks based upon their business model and ROI. This is a constant evolution where various releases go from development through being "frozen" or published. About an 18 month churn for that then some time to see the standard appear into networks.