The GSM Association (GSMA) has revealed that the chief executives of MTS of Russia, SK Telecom of Korea, Telstra of Australia, Telecom Italia, and Zain, which operates in 22 countries, have joined the board of the GSM Association, the global trade association for the mobile industry. Leonid A. Melamed of MTS, Shin-Bae Kim of SK Telecom, Solomon Trujillo of Telstra, Franco Bernab of Telecom Italia and Dr Saad Al-Barrak of Zain join other high-level representatives of the worlds leading mobile operators on the GSMAs 27-strong board.
Craig Ehrlich, Chairman of the GSMA, believes the outstanding calibre and geographic breadth of the new board members reflects the GSMAs position as the pre-eminent  trade group for the global mobile industry. He says:
Their wealth of experience and leadership qualities will further enhance our ability to address the many strategic opportunities and challenges arising from the convergence of mobile services, with the Internet, entertainment, computing, financial services and other sectors.
GSMA is the global trade association representing more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 countries and territories of the world. In addition, more than 200 manufacturers and suppliers support the Associations initiatives as key partners.
The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile phones and wireless services work globally and are easily accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers and national economies, while creating new business opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The Associations members serve more than 2.5 billion customers – 82% of the worlds mobile phone users.