Craig Ehrlich Re-Elected as Chairman of the Global Trade Association for Mobile Operators

Craig Ehrlich Re-Elected as Chairman of the Global Trade Association for Mobile Operators

January 10, 2007

    LONDON, Jan. 10 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The board of the
GSM Association, the global trade association representing
more than 700 mobile operators, has re-elected Craig
Ehrlich, a board member of Hutchison Mobile Communications,
as chairman for the term 2007-2008. 

    "Over the past four years, the GSMA board led by
Craig Ehrlich has expanded the Association's mandate to
address the strategic, commercial and public policy issues
facing the mobile industry, while maintaining its
long-standing focus on ensuring operators' services are
interoperable and work across national borders," said
Rob Conway, GSMA Chief Executive and board member. "On
behalf of the GSM Association, I would like to congratulate
Craig on his re-election as the Chairman of the board for
the next term."

    "The GSM Association has assumed a leading role in
the strategic, commercial and public policy matters of
importance to the operator community," said Mr.
Ehrlich, the first GSMA chairman to be re-elected for a
third-term of office. "But we cannot stand still. As
the mobile phone increasingly becomes the remote control
for life, the GSMA needs to further broaden its expertise
and the scope of its work so it can guide the mobile
industry through this extraordinary period of growth and
change."

    During Mr. Ehrlich's tenure as chairman, the GSMA has
removed or lowered many of the barriers, from handset costs
to technological incompatibility to excessive regulation,
limiting the take-up and usage of mobile services in both
developed and developing markets. Mr. Ehrlich has committed
the board and senior management to make innovation a
cornerstone of the GSMA's agenda.

    "By tackling some of the most thorny technical and
regulatory issues facing our industry, the GSM Association
is playing a major role in making mobile services more
cost-effective, attractive and useful for people across the
world," said Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile
International. "I am pleased that Craig has focused
the GSMA on innovation, particularly in the areas of
applications, content and services. Such innovation has a
direct impact on operators' revenues and we fully support
this agenda." 

    "Under Craig's leadership, the GSMA has done much
to encourage the uptake of mobile communications in
developing countries," said Wang Jianzhou, Chairman
and CEO of China Mobile. "Since he became chairman of
the GSMA, the number of global GSM connections has risen
from less than 800 million to more than 2.2 billion.
Nowhere has that expansion been more dramatic than in
China, where GSM is fuelling significant social and
economic development."  

    "During Craig's tenure as chairman, the GSMA has
proven adept at running highly-focused projects to bring
down the cost of handsets and remove mobile-specific taxes
and regulations, enabling mobile communications to flourish
in countries like India," added Sunil Bharti Mittal,
Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Airtel and member
of the GSMA's board. "I look forward to working
further with Craig and the GSMA to develop new markets and
services that exploit the many strengths of the GSM
ecosystem." 

    For more information on Mr. Ehrlich please see:
http://www.gsmworld.com/about/people/chairman.shtml 
 
    For more information on the GSM Association please see:
http://www.gsmworld.com/about/index.shtml 
 
    The GSM Association is the global trade association
representing more than 700 mobile phone operators in 215
countries.    


    For more information, please contact: 

     David Pringle
     Media Relations Manager
     GSM Association 
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]


SOURCE  GSM Association