Article re-printed with kind permission from GSM Q, June 1999 Issue 14
Since its formation late last year, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) has kept busy. This issue's round-up of
GSA news includes looks at market development, workshops and dialogue with the operator community, while GSA president Alan
Hadden discusses the urgent challenge of tomorrow's data markets.
Currently representing over 70 per cent of the worldwide GSM market, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) brings
together suppliers of GSM products, systems and services from across the supply chain, irrespective of their size or market
position.
Targeting operators, investors, potential investors, key influencers and opinion-formers, the GSA aims to strengthen the
promotion of GSM worldwide and to promote GSM as the platform for delivery of third generation multimedia services.
Since our formation in October 1998, we have opened channels for constructive dialogue for GSM suppliers within the global
GSM industry. This has been achieved through a number of activities, including roundtables with operators, participation in
major telecommunications exhibitions, conferences and seminars to promote GSM competitiveness, and joint co-operation with
our industry partners, including the GSM Association, North America GSM Alliance, ETSI and the UMTS Forum.
Initiatives
Practical initiatives include the recent signing of a co-operation agreement with the UMTS Forum to assist, where possible,
with the evolution from GSM to 3G. The GSA has also been approved as a Market Representation Partner in 3GPP, allowing us to
deliver market requirements from the broad industry perspective into the global 3G standardisation process.
These activities are designed to create new businesses opportunities by encouraging members to express their opinions, as
well as to share and enhance industry knowledge. New market development is high on our agenda and we have begun a targeted
campaign focusing on building GSM awareness in Latin America. We have already started a series of briefings with key
influencers and operators in Argentina. Throughout 1999 we will be extending various initiatives to other key markets,
including Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
We are equally committed to building on the successes of GSM in existing markets, including China, Africa and Europe.
Ongoing dialogue with operators means we are better able to identify the demands of different markets, thus providing
knowledge to our members as the basis for the successful development of new applications.
To achieve our targets, the GSA has established two Action Oriented Project Groups, one addressing Market Development and
the other Communications. The first meetings of the AOPGs took place in April and May, initially focusing on wireless data
as a key industry issue. The GSA is firmly committed to the potential for wireless data over GSM and these meetings
generated a great deal of information which will result in a series of briefing papers to bring clarity in this key new
business area.
Future workshops will focus on other key industry topics including implementation of GPRS, HSCSD and EDGE, and the evolution
towards and timing of 3G. The opportunities arising from technological developments, for example in the SIM card area and
the availability of WAP will also be addressed. Our aim is to use the results of these workshops to clarify the messages
emerging from different players, sectors and markets across the GSM industry.
In April we also held our first round-table discussion with operators to promote understanding of their major issues and to
agree what support and actions are required.
The activities highlighted above are only the tip of the iceberg. In each area, we have developed short- and long-term
activity programmes to ensure we achieve our targets and provide reliable, relevant information to all those who are
investing in the GSM industry. For example, we believe we need to act to promote the widespread acceptance and uptake of
enhanced data services such as GPRS. We will also be giving support to operators to assist their competitive differentiation
strategies. Our next operator round-table will take place in Montreal in October.
Alan Hadden, president GSA
Further information about the GSA
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