LONDON -- Cable & Wireless International, MTN, Softbank and Telekom Austria have all joined the board of the GSM Association, the global trade association for mobile phone operators.

Harris Jones, CEO of Cable & Wireless International, Phuthuma Nhleko, CEO of MTN, Tetsuzo Matsumoto, Chief Strategy Officer of Softbank, and Boris Nemsic, CEO of mobilkom austria group, join the new board, which will serve a two-year term from January 2007. Senior representatives from the world’s top mobile phone operators, including China Mobile, Orascom, Telefonica and Vodafone, are also among those on the 25-strong GSMA board.

“The role of the GSMA is expanding as the mobile industry matures into one of the most important and influential sectors of the global economy,” said Craig Ehrlich, chairman of the GSMA. “We plan to maintain that expansion to ensure the GSMA continues to play a leading role in strategic, technical and public policy matters of importance to the operator community. At the same time, a key consideration for the new board will be prioritising the many calls on the Association’s time and resources.”

GSMA board members are typically CEOs or board-level representatives of mobile operator groups. Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA and member of the board, added: “I am extremely pleased with the composition of the new board, which is well-placed to ensure that the Association continues to make a major contribution to the development and growth of the mobile ecosystem to the benefit of both end-users and the industry itself.”

GSM Association (GSMA)