GSMA AND NGMN ALLIANCE WILL WORK TOGETHER TO STEER THE FUTURE OF MOBILE BROADBAND


19th June 2008, London/Frankfurt: The GSMA, the global trade body for the mobile industry, and the NGMN Alliance, the group focused on the evolution to the next generation of mobile networks, have agreed to cooperate to help steer the development of mobile broadband communications to give customers a compelling mobile broadband experience.

The two groups will cooperate to ensure that users of next generation mobile networks, such as those based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, will be able to roam on to existing GSM, W-CDMA and HSPA networks, which now cover more than 80% of the world’s population. The GSMA and the NGMN Alliance will also develop the commercial frameworks and technical platforms necessary to ensure that all mobile services will be able to travel across both next generation networks and existing networks based on the GSM family of technologies.

The two groups have also agreed to co-operate in other essential areas related to the development of next generation mobile broadband services, such as intellectual property rights and spectrum requirements.

“Now is the time for the mobile operator community to bring together all the pieces that are needed to ensure that our industry can meet the rapidly rising global demand for mobile broadband services in the decade beyond 2010,” said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer of the GSMA. “This agreement with the NGMN Alliance will help ensure that users of the mobile broadband networks of the future will enjoy all the benefits, such as economies of scale, global roaming and interoperability, inherent in the GSM ecosystem today.“

“This cooperation will certainly help to steer the future of mobile broadband and will support the rapid deployment of NGMN technologies,” said Dr. Peter Meissner, Operating Officer of the NGMN Alliance. “Our agreement is not just about liaison, it is project driven and we have clearly identified those areas where the mobile industry needs to cooperate. We are happy to share our milestone achievements in technology evaluation, trials, IPR and spectrum.”

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About the GSMA (www.gsmworld.com)

The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association representing more than 750 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 countries and territories of the world. The Association's members represent more than 3 billion GSM and 3GSM connections - over 86% of the world's mobile phone connections. In addition, more than 200 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.

GSMA Press Contacts:
Mark Smith or David Pringle
GSMA
Email: press@gsm.org


About NGMN Alliance (www.ngmn.org)

The Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) Alliance currently consists of 51 world leading global network operators, technology vendors and universities. The network operators represent more than half of all mobile phone users worldwide and technology vendors represent more than 90 percent of implemented mobile wireless infrastructure. The key objective of the Alliance is to provide a platform for innovation for mobile broadband communications that enables an exceptional mobile user experience - cost-effective and user-friendly services and a range of end user devices like mobile phones and embedded mobile devices for laptops, consumer electronics, game consoles, etc. The NGMN White Paper summarises the vision for mobile broadband communications and includes common operator recommendations as well as requirements for the standards for the next generation of mobile broadband networks, devices and services.

NGMN Press Contact:
Marie-Luise Müller
NGMN Ltd. Media Relations
Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 58 • 60325 Frankfurt am Main • Germany
Phone: +49 69/9074998-23 • E-Mail: marie-luise.mueller@ngmn.org