Craig Ehrlich Re-elected As Chairman Of The Global Trade Association For Mobile Operators

10th January 2007 - London: 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."

Notes to editors:
Mr. Ehrlich has been involved in Hong Kong's communications industry since he first settled in Hong Kong in 1987. He joined Hutchison Cablevision as managing director in October 1987 and was a founding member of the team that launched STAR TV, Asia's first satellite delivered multi-channel television network. After four years with Hutchison Whampoa, Mr Ehrlich became the Group Operations Director at Hutchison Telecommunications and was responsible for the company's operations in 10 countries.

In 1993 he left the Hutchison group and established companies involved in the introduction of cable television and paging services. He sold these companies in September 1996 and started Hong Kong mobile operator SUNDAY Communications Ltd. in November 1996.

In 2003, he rejoined Hutchison Whampoa as a board member of Hutchison Mobile Communications and now advises the group’s 3G and 2G businesses worldwide. In the Philippines, the investor group of which Mr. Ehrlich is vice chairman, recently won a 3GSM license and acquired a controlling interest in Eastern Telecoms, the former Cable & Wireless company in that country. Mr Ehrlich is also a board member of public company Philweb, the country's leading gaming company.

Mr. Ehrlich is also a member of the board of directors of ECI Telecom, a company listed on NASDAQ, and Co-Chairman of Novare Technologies Ltd., an onshoring and outsourcing software company based in Hong Kong and serving clients throughout the world.

Mr. Ehrlich, a Hong Kong resident, holds a B.A. degree from the University of California Los Angeles, a Masters degree from Occidental College and a postgraduate fellowship with the Coro Foundation.

About the GSM Association
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 217 countries and territories of the world. In addition, more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers support the Association’s 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 Association's members serve more than 2 billion customers - 78% of the world's mobile phone users.

Source: GSM Association