GSMA Elects New Board Members and Franco Bernabe as Chairman

LONDON, Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The GSMA today announced that it has elected Franco Bernabe, Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Italia, as its new Chairman for a two-year term, from January 2011 through December 2012. As Chairman, he will help oversee the strategic direction of the GSMA, which represents nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem. Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO, Telenor Group, was elected as Deputy Chairman.

Mr. Bernabe has served as CEO of Telecom Italia since December 2007. Previously, he held a number of executive positions, including a previous mandate as CEO of Telecom Italia; Chairman and Founder of FB Group, an investment company active in the areas of financial advisory and ICT; Vice Chairman of Rothschild Europe; and CEO of ENI. He has served on the Board of several major international companies, and is currently a member of the Board of PetroChina; he is also Co-Chairman of the Italy Brasil Business Council and Vice Chairman of the Rome Industrialist and Enterprises Association with special duties for innovation and broadband. Mr. Bernabe earned a degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Turin, and started his professional career in 1976 as senior economist in the Economics and Statistics Department of OCSE in Paris.

In addition to Mr. Bernabe, Mr. Baksaas and Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA, the Board of the GSMA comprises:

• Alejandro Magana Perez, Vice President, International Relations, America Movil
• William Hague, Executive Vice President - International, AT&T Mobility
• Jamaludin Ibrahim, Managing Director, President and Group CEO, Axiata Group Berhad
• Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, Bharti Airtel Ltd. (India and South Asia)
• Sha Yuejia, Executive Director and Vice President, China Mobile
• Lu Yimin, President, China Unicom
• Olivier Baujard, Chief Technology Officer, Deutsche Telekom
• Christian Salbaing, Deputy Chairman, Hutchison Whampoa Europe
• Hyun-Myung Pyo, President, Mobile Business Group and Member of Board of Directors, KT Corporation
• Alexander Popovskiy, CEO, MTS Russia Business Unit, OJSC Mobile TeleSystems
• Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO, Telekom Austria Group and A1 Telekom Austria
• Dr. Kiyoyuki Tsujimura, Senior Executive Vice President and Member of Board of Directors, NTT DOCOMO
• Anne Bouverot, Executive Vice President, Personal LoB and Group Devices, France Telecom-Orange
• Khaled Bichara, Group CEO, Orascom Telecom
• Dr. Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Qtel
• Sung Min Ha, President, Mobile Network Operation Business Unit, SK Telecom
• Napoleon Nazareno, President and CEO, Smart Communications
• Tetsuzo Matsumoto, Senior Executive Vice President, SoftBank Mobile
• Anil Kumar Sardana, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices Limited
• Vivek Dev,  Group Director of Global New Services, Telefonica
• Alexander Izosimov, President and CEO, VimpelCom Ltd.
• Richard J. Lynch, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Verizon
• Steve Pusey, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA is focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile communications industry.

For more information, please visit Mobile World Live, the new online portal for the mobile communications industry, at www.mobileworldlive.com or the GSMA corporate website at www.gsmworld.com.

SOURCE GSMA